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Jurgen Klopp blasts treatment of Liverpool fans at Champions League final following independent UEFA report.
Jurgen Klopp made a brutally honest appraisal of the treatment of Liverpool fans before the 2021–22 Champions League final following UEFA’s report.
The governing body of European football released an independent investigation of the incidents on May 28 and acknowledged “primary responsibility” for the ensuing pandemonium.
Liverpool fans were subject to attack with teargas and pepper spray and were funnelled into dangerous crushes, before being inexplicably blamed by UEFA and the French authorities after the event.
Klopp has commended the fact that the study has cleared fans of any wrongdoing while also emphasizing how bogus the first allegations were.
“I think it’s super-important that, finally, it’s official, let me say it like this,” Klopp told Liverpool’s official website. “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.
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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.
“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. And then getting out of it and getting blamed for that, it’s horrible. It’s really horrible.”
Klopp’s words echo – albeit in a more reserved manner – the responses from his employers in the aftermath of the report. Liverpool’s official statement underlined the “shocking false narratives” peddled by UEFA immediately after the fact, while captain Jordan Henderson called on the event to be “a turning point for the treatment of football fans”.
It is thought that the club have demanded for reforms and will be pushing for safety changes following the release of the report.
On Monday, the German-led his team to an important derby-day victory against Everton. On Saturday, the German will face a much tougher test away to top-four opponents Newcastle.