A sad sight. Real Madrid’s victory in the Champions League final against Liverpool (1-0) was overshadowed by chaotic scenes near the Stade de France (Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis) where Saturday May 28, the final of the major European football competition.
Spectators blocked at the entrance to the stadium, tear gas, and attempts to break in by climbing barriers… In the European press, journalists have largely returned to the incidents that have occurred around the Stade de France. Starting with the British media. More than on the defeat of Liverpool (1-0), the newspapers logically insisted on the serious failures noted on the sidelines of the meeting due to the difficulties of access to the enclosure of Saint-Denis, which delayed the coup d sending off the match for more than half an hour and caused tensions away from home.
The tabloid The Sun is the most virulent with a title in French (“Prank Stadium”) and the testimony of Marvin Matip, the brother of Liverpool club defender Joël Matip, who said he had to take refuge in a restaurant with his pregnant wife to escape the tear gas scattered in their direction.
Le Telegraph publishes the damning account of Jason Burt, the head of the football section of the newspaper. “I was in front of gate Y when I was caught in the tear gas used indiscriminately by the French riot police at the Stade de France”, he said in an article. And to add: “I was talking to supporters who had been waiting quietly, some for three hours, when they reached my face, stinging my eyes, lips and tongue. I saw that we dispersed some. I could not believe it (…) it was absolutely shameful. »
I was tear-gassed by disgraceful French riot police https://t.co/2lOg3Fa580
Highlighting the ” bottlenecks “ to which the Reds supporters were directed, despite having arrived two and a half hours before kick-off and controls “unbearably slow”Burt believes: “It’s a shame that UEFA accused the fans of arriving late. It is simply wrong. They tried to launch their version. Now they have to apologize. »
“Barbarian hordes”
On the Spanish side, the focus is mainly on Real Madrid’s fourteenth continental title. The sports daily Brand thus renamed this damn it “The thirteenth”a play on words between the name of the impassable Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and the number fourteen. “With nine saves, Courtois was the undisputed hero of the final”underlined the best-selling newspaper in Spain, on Sunday, on its “one”.
But the incidents of the evening also hold a large place in the Iberian newspapers. Alfredo Relano, honorary president of the sports daily As and respected voice of Spanish football, is very harsh in an editorial, denouncing Liverpool and “its hordes of barbarians without entry tickets” who “created an unnamed scandal at the gates of the stadium, which could well have caused a catastrophe, even if everything [était] fortunately back in order with the delay of the kick-off”. facts that “cannot go unpunished”he added. “A shame: the final started half an hour late because of the chaos at the stadium entrances”displayed the Catalan daily Sport as a banner of its “one”, Sunday.
The German media are also wondering about organizational flaws in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). “The Evening of Chaos”écrit Bild, for whom, in sporting terms, it is “Klopp’s bitterest defeat”the German coach of Liverpool.
In Italy, the press greets without surprise the fourth title of ” the emperor “ Carlo Ancelotti (Corriere dello Sport). “Another perfect match, for the choices, the management and the preparation. He is the first to reach four Champions League. A huge season, Italian pride, thank you Carlo! »souligne La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Le Corriere dello Sport comes back like all the Italian press on the “organization flop” Parisian. “A bad evening at the end of a sad season for France, where security and public order problems have multiplied in the stadiums”writes the Roman newspaper.