A hell of a hiccup in the organization of the evening. The kick-off of the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, organized at the Stade de France on Saturday evening (9 p.m.), has been delayed twice. The organizers first announced on the giant screens of the enclosure a first delay of the kick-off at 9:15 p.m., instead of 9 p.m. Then, a new delay of at least a quarter of an hour was announced, for finally a kick-off this time scheduled for 9:36 p.m. “The late arrival of supporters” was invoked on giant screens, while UEFA mentioned “security reasons” on Twitter.
In fact, several problems have been identified around the enclosure of Saint-Denis, retained in place of Saint-Petersburg following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Several supporters entered the stadium by jumping over the gates surrounding the stadium before sprinting towards the stands, as shown by several videos posted on social networks. The police headquarters, after announcing that the stadium was “tight” after crowd movements around the stadium, announced that a police intervention was underway to repel intrusion attempts. “Do not force the entrance to the Stade de France,” she wrote on Twitter.
Several Liverpool supporters, despite having tickets, also complained of not being able to access the Stade de France in time. A video by an ESPN journalist shows the police spraying tear gas on people who have gathered around the gates of the enclosure.
Other crowd movements were noted at the end of the afternoon by one of our journalists in the Saint-Denis fan zone, where Real Madrid supporters with tickets were expected. Whistles were heard at the announcement of the delayed kick-off in the Liverpool fan zone, Cours de Vincennes in Paris.
Players from both teams returned to the field to warm up again before the new kick-off. After they returned to the locker room, a concert by singer Camila Cabello took place as planned. In a surreal atmosphere.