Robbie Keane among the Paris chaos as Uefa left with questions to answer 

PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 28: English fans attend the broadcast of UEFA Champions League Final Between Liverpool and Real Madrid in the dedicated Fan Zone on May 28, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

ROBBIE KEANE was among the thousands of football fans caught up in scenes of utter chaos at Stade de France on Saturday night, for the Uefa Champions League Final.

Keane – who was a guest of Uefa at the game – was eventually plucked to safety by officials after thousands of Liverpool supporters found themselves locked out of the ground ahead of European club football’s showpiece event.

The Irish Examiner has learned that the first three gates into the ‘Liverpool section’ were kept closed throughout the evening, preventing entry to the game and forcing thousands of fans to try to make their way through one open access point.

An Irish football fan has revealed how he was caught up in a crush at Gate D, after he and thousands more arrived at their designated areas – Gates A, B and C - only to find them shut.

Michael Gannon from Kilcullen, Co Kildare said that he disputes Uefa’s claims that the chaos was caused by thousands of ticketless Liverpool fans, and was instead due to a lack of stewards.

He claimed that he had been made aware by a senior security advisor, representing Liverpool FC, that the club had been concerned about security operations at the stadium in the days leading up to Saturday night’s final.

“For Uefa to say that the issue is down to fans alone, is simply not the case,” said Gannon, who is a season ticket holder at Anfield.

“I can tell you now that three of the main gates remained locked due to a lack of stewards, and this was relayed to me by a Liverpool official whom I know from Anfield, who also told me that the club had been very worried in advance of the game.

“The first gate that was opened was Gate D, and this became extremely dangerous as kick-off neared and fans began to panic that they may not get in.

“So you have fans that should be accessing the ground through four different gates, all trying to get through the one that is actually open – it was very scary.” 

Gannon said that eventually a surge of supporters stampeded through the ‘D’ entrance, due to the intensive crush behind them of more and more fans arriving on the scene.

“It was horrible, really awful for everyone. There were kids, elderly people, and it’s amazing that nobody was seriously injured or worse.” 

Gannon, who paid €490 for his own Category A ticket, said that “definitely there were fans without tickets”, but he believed many to be locals.

“Surely people getting access to the perimeter of the stadium without tickets is a basic organisational failure, and for Uefa to say this was the cause of Liverpool fans, is completely disingenuous.” 

In a statement on Saturday evening Uefa said: “In the lead-up to the game, the turnstiles at the Liverpool end became blocked by thousands of fans who had purchased fake tickets which did not work in the turnstiles.” 

Saturday night’s scenes in Paris were a repeat of Uefa’s previous major European final, when horror and devastation occurred at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium – thousands of drunken fans were allowed enter the venue without tickets.

While Uefa moved to shift blame from its own responsibility on Saturday, the most important question it should face is how it allowed Stade the France and the French Football Federation to host this year’s reorganised final (away from St Petersburg).

The FFF is a notoriously dysfunctional association and is seen by senior UEFA figures as difficult and aloof.

It must also be explained how the Liverpool team bus ended up stuck in traffic and was not escorted to the ground by police – at Euro 2016 in France every participating team had a fleet of outriders to accompany all movements throughout the tournament.

If claims that Uefa had been aware of concerns prior to the match are correct, it must state why it allowed the event to go ahead, knowing that basic security protocols were unprepared and under-resourced.

On Saturday morning Uefa chaired its Match Day operations meeting in the bowels of Stade de France, with FFF officials, the stadium director, ground staff, medical and ambulance staff, representatives from Liverpool and Real Madrid, Police, security and a host of other protocol and operations managers.

A key outcome of these meetings is determining the risk of the game, under three headings – high, moderate or low.

If this match was not entered as ‘High Risk’ that needs an urgent explanation by UEFA, but worse still - if it was, then why did it not receive the attention and diligence that it required under such circumstances?

If Liverpool FC was worried, it certainly didn’t advise fans of such concerns.

In its communication to supporters in the days leading up to the match – the club did advise fans to turn up early, but it did not express any other concerns publicly.

Why also did the stadium director and head of security not inform others about the extreme shortfall in exterior stadium stewards and its decision to keep certain gates closed?

“What is very strange, and from what I’ve heard and read, is that Liverpool were so concerned about security at the stadium, why was nothing done to address it?” added Gannon.

“Uefa must come out and answer all of these questions, because it is an organisation that is now incapable of hosting major football matches – which in itself is shocking.” 

Uefa did not respond when asked by the Irish Examiner if it was aware that there had been concerns expressed in advance of the game.