Liverpool lost 2-1 to AC Milan in last night’s Champions League final, however many reds fans were not inside the ground to watch it happen.
Thousands of Liverpool fans travelled to Athens without tickets, and gained entry to the ground through forged tickets, or with none at all. This left some fans with genuine tickets stranded outside after being refused entry to an already full stadium.
UEFA’s head of communications, William Gaillard, has pinned the blame of the Liverpool fans. It comes as a surprise that Liverpool fans would behave this way, after they have two incidents of deaths caused from overcrowding at their matches.
“It was a suitable venue. It is the stadium where the 2004 European Championships were held and where all the games of the (Greek) national team are held.
“Unfortunately in Britain it is the behaviour. Liverpool fans are responsible for the problems before, during and after the game.
“(They were) trying to go over the barriers to get into the stadium without tickets, which is not the behaviour we can condone. It is very easy to say ‘this is not a football stadium’.
“Milan supporters didn’t face the same problems because they didn’t behave the same way.”
“In terms of fans pushing and attempting to get over the barriers, with turnstiles there could have been a tragedy.
“At one point the police were overwhelmed and it is much to their credit that there were no dangerous incidents.”