My crew witnessed, were caught up in, and captured the truth of what happened last night. Fans were funnelled through a tiny passage that was made narrower by police vans. Squeezed into dangerous queues for hours while locals were aggressively forcing entry without intervention.
Supporters - a lot of kids, women and elderly - were stuck between 'gangs' and metal fences. They were begging police for help and were tear-gassed in return. The footage doesn't lie.
The shambolic organisation and hazardous decision to funnel thousands into a bottleneck without any ticket checks up to that point was asking for trouble.
Exacerbated by gates being closed and authorities antagonist rather than pivoting to alleviate reasons for pressure & chaos
French police close to the media entrance of the stadium were relaying there were problems with locals trying to force entry and engaging in theft as fans queued. Their colleagues, meanwhile, were tear-gassing supporters trying to scan their tickets...
We've had the spin of 'late arrival of fans' morph into 'turnstiles blocked by thousands who purchased fake tickets' despite mountains of evidence showing it was on awful crowd management plus a poor, aggressive reaction to flawed and quite dangerous planning by the authorities
Incredibly dispiriting that fan safety being jeopardised continuously becomes overrun by tribalism. This allows and encourages the authorities to scapegoat supporters, abandon responsibility, not learn and massively improve planning moving forward. It's unhelpful for ALL fans.
A raw snapshot of the scenes last night. Fans suffering from being tear-gassed while queuing. Police finally arriving to deal with aggressive locals - also caught breaching in - cheered. Measured accounts amid being awfully treated.
Real Madrid fans - with their wider, streamlined route into the ground and open gates - have also shared their horrid experience on here and in the Spanish press.
"Locals stealing tickets, phones, forcefully taking pics of QR codes, jumping the fences causing chaos"
"They were armies of local robbers hunting the fans. A scary movie… The Real Madrid and Liverpool fans got together with each other to form shields and defend themselves better”
Why was Jürgen Klopp given time? His reconstruction of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, the evidence of implementing a sustainable, successful long-term vision. Creating on-pitch identity and unity through every facet of a club. Improving players, the culture
#LFC had a 60-page dossier on Klopp - everything from training sessions to his relationship with staff - before FSG met with him for four hours. The talk solidified what they already knew: he’d been there, done the kind of work the club required and was exceptionally good at it.
#LFC had a good structure behind the scenes, but without the right figure to galvanise and elevate it. Klopp came in and the same owners and ‘transfer committee’ that were slated are now recognised as leading lights in the game. He made things better, gave greater responsibility
Four years of Jürgen Klopp at #LFC. A thread of my favourite quotes from exclusive interviews with him:
"I’m not a one-man show. I was never that in my life. For me, the best lesson you can get is to speak to smart people about things they know about much more about than you"
"I know football is all about success, but it’s also worth having a situation in 20 years when you can look back and think about the great times you had together in the development and learning period with hard work"
"It's always possible to improve together, it's always possible to get the next highlight. There are always sunny days, but you just have to make sure you are prepared to make the most of it."