(Reuters) – Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said an independent review of the chaos before the 2022 Champions League final in Paris must be a “turning point” in the way fans are treated.
The final, which Real Madrid won 1-0 on May 28, was delayed by 36 minutes after thousands of Liverpool supporters were unable to get into the Stade de France. French police were filmed using tear gas on fans including women and children.
UEFA apologised to Liverpool for initially blaming the Merseyside club’s fans for the mayhem following the release of the review, which found European soccer’s governing body should bear “primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster”.
“The Paris report needs to be a turning point for the treatment of football fans,” Henderson tweeted on Tuesday.
“No one should have their safety jeopardised by inadequate organisation. The sooner action is taken, the better.”
Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan said the panel’s findings marked “the end of the beginning” of the changes needed from authorities.
“This is where the hard work really needs to start now,” Hogan told the club’s website. “The fact that it wasn’t (a) disaster is really down to the behaviour of our supporters around the match itself.
“I was in those crowds and I saw the behaviour of our supporters. That’s the reason why it was a near miss and why it wasn’t an actual disaster.”
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
