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Gianni Infantino, left, president of FIFA, shakes hands with Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, after delivering a speech at the start of the 47th ordinary UEFA congress in Lisbon, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

When Liverpool supporters found themselves caught up in a chaotic and dangerous bottleneck as they made their way to the Champions League final in Paris in 2022, Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, came across the Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin in the VIP area.

Rotheram had his wallet and phone robbed on the way into the stadium. He confronted Ceferin in the VIP section where they had a brief exchange during which Rotheram told him people might be killed outside. Ceferin, according to Rotheram, ended the engagement with the words, “This conversation is over.”