Klopp relieved as 'lies' of Champions League final chaos are proven
‘It was just lies’: Jurgen Klopp expresses relief after Liverpool were cleared by an independent panel of wrongdoing during last year’s Champions League final… insisting ‘we knew they were wrong’ about chaotic scenes outside Stade de France
- UEFA concluded they were at fault for the events at last season’s final in Paris
- Fans, including pregnant women, were targeted with teargas by French police
- After their own investigation, UEFA have absolved Liverpool fans of any blame
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admits he is relieved that the ‘lies’ of last year’s Champions League final chaos have been exposed after the club were cleared of any blame by an independent UEFA panel this week.
European football’s governing body conducted their own review into the dangerous scenes outside the Stade de France last May, which resulted in kick-off between Liverpool and Real Madrid being delayed by 40 minutes as masses of fans were targeted with teargas by police.
French authorities and UEFA initially held ticketless Reds fans culpable for the shambolic events that transpired before the final, a narrative which was swiftly ruled out by a number of Sportsmail reporters on the scene in Paris.
Yet on Monday night Liverpool supporters were officially cleared of any wrongdoing following UEFA’s own investigation, which declared there is no evidence to support the agenda that was pursued by French authorities in Paris to make them scapegoats.
Instead, it said the tactic was ‘reprehensible’ and simply designed to avoid taking responsibility for the chaotic events which occured on the day.
Jurgen Klopp is relieved that the ‘lies’ of last year’s Champions League final have been exposed
UEFA commissioned a team to look into chaotic events outside the Stade de France last May
Liverpool fans were cleared of wrongdoing despite initially being held culpable by authorities
Klopp, whose side were beaten 1-0 by Madrid in that final, insists it was ‘super important’ for the correct version of events to be reflected in UEFA’s report.
He told Liverpool’s website: ‘I think it’s super-important that, finally, it’s official. Let me say it like this: I’m not sure, at least in my life, there was never a case with more evidence, where I knew more about [it] when I was not directly involved, because I was on the other side of the wall in the stadium, pretty much.
‘But families, friends, they were all there and everybody knew how our supporters behaved.
‘But it really feels good, it feels just right that it’s now official and everybody knows it now because there were so many things said after the game, which we knew they were wrong.
‘It was just lies. So, I’m really happy that it’s finally said officially.’
UEFA’s 220-page report, which was leaked without Liverpool having the chance to digest it, concludes with over 20 recommendations for hosting and organising future events.
The Merseyside club have challenged them to make sure they are adhered to going forward in order to ‘do the right thing for the safety of supporters’ – a message Klopp fully agrees with.
‘Staying calm in a situation where nobody really can stay calm, tear gas in your eyes, pressure from up front, from the side, from behind, being locked in between thousands of people and not pushing like crazy, staying calm, is a massive thing to do and an extremely difficult thing to do,’ he added.
‘And then getting out of it and getting blamed for that, it’s horrible. It’s really horrible. So there are some jobs to do and I hope they do it properly because these kind of events should be a pure joy to watch.
‘You pay a lot of money, it’s a lot of work to qualify, then you go there, everything is a positive mood and in the end you’re just happy to arrive somehow in the stadium when you made it. When you hear it first time, you cannot believe it, that that all happened in that time, but it did.
‘So, yes, there’s a lot to improve and I hope everybody learned from it.’
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