Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp urged those in charge to learn from their mistakes after an independent review of last year’s Champions League final’s organizational problems was released earlier this week.
An exhibition match last May between Liverpool and Real Madrid, which the latter won 1-0, was twice postponed until kick-off at the Stade de France when fans were unable to enter the pitch and police fired teardrops gas.
UEFA initially accused Liverpool fans of trying to enter with “fake tickets” before an independent review commissioned by European football’s governing body found that the organizers were in fact responsible.
The report, released on Monday, placed “primary responsibility” on UEFA and also criticized the actions of the French Football Federation and local police authorities.
Liverpool have demanded action from UEFA after what the report described as a “near miss” with club captain Jordan Henderson saying it should be a “turning point” for fans.
“I think it’s very important that this finally becomes official, let me put it this way,” Klopp told Liverpool’s official website. “I’m not sure, at least in my life I’ve never dealt with a lot of evidence where I knew more about [it] when I wasn’t directly involved because I was on the other side of the stadium wall, pretty much.
“But families, friends, they were all there and everyone knew how our fans were behaving, but it’s really nice, it feels right that now it’s official and everyone knows it, because after the game so many things were said that we knew they were wrong. It was just a lie. So I’m very happy that it’s finally officially said.”
Jürgen Klopp has shared his reaction to the publication of an independent UEFA report on the events around the Champions League final in Paris last year.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 15, 2023
The report set out 21 recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future, including making safety and security a top priority in planning, and matches should be played with an assist and service approach to fans rather than treating them as problem of public order.
“Big mistakes were made,” Klopp added. “That they had to change the venue a few months before [from Saint Petersburg to Paris due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine]… I understand, and it’s difficult. But to place it in a stadium that is not used regularly, that is, only for some major events and the like, and not constantly.
“So, for example, I’m German and that’s why I say this, but as an example, if you used Berlin – a big city, enough hotels, used to having big events every two weeks with 70,000 people in the stadium. and stuff like that, it would be exactly the same, but the fans would not be from Germany, but from Spain and England [and] that will be the only difference.
“.Big events are organized so often, and when you are under pressure, you have time pressure, you still need to make the right decisions, and this [a] responsibility for specific people. So yeah, I hope they listen, I hope they learn.”
The report also stated that the death averted was only “accidental” and largely due to the behavior of the fans.
“I think we were very lucky that nothing else happened,” Klopp said. “It was a day, I don’t know how you say it, but the day of the “good will of lying” – when you have to lie to protect another person.
“Because we all got messages from our people outside before the game and then the game was postponed, so we started looking at the smartphone again, ‘What’s going on?’ We knew because people couldn’t get in and everyone was like, “No, I’m fine, I’m fine…” and no one was fine. Nobody was okay.
“Then the game started and I heard from people that everyone who was in the stadium just stood there and thought, ‘I managed somehow, wow. It wasn’t the mood you want to watch the Champions League final in.
“So that took it all away, and the strangest thing is that after the game, like an hour after the game, the least important information that night was that we lost the final. This is really crazy. And it shows how it was.”
Ultimately, Klopp just wants the lessons to be learned, adding: “When you hear this, [for the] the first time, you won’t believe it all happened at the time, but it did.
“So yes, there is room for improvement and I hope everyone has learned from that.”