Andy Robertson told Uefa it “messed up” the biggest game in world football with its treatment of Liverpool supporters in the Champions League final.
Fans were teargassed by police, who Robertson called “heavy-handed”, and they were delayed for more than two hours getting into the Stade de France while some, including a friend of the left back’s, were told their tickets were counterfeit.
Robertson believes the French police panicked and said European football’s governing body should have been organised after kick-off was put back for more than half an hour, before Real Madrid won 1-0.
Uefa cited a “security problem” and fans’ late arrival for the delayed start, though there was plenty of evidence Liverpool supporters reached the ground in time but were not permitted to go any further, and Robertson believes the authorities made up their excuses as they went along.
He said: “In the biggest game in world football, these situations shouldn’t be happening and unfortunately Uefa have messed up today.”
Players were not initially aware of everything and Robertson explained: “When you come in after the game, go on your phone and you have seen everyone struggle to get in and the French police being pretty heavy-handed and people who have got legitimate tickets being told they are fake tickets, which happened to one of my mates and I can assure you it wasn’t a fake ticket so when it comes to, they have just panicked.”
Robertson had provided his friend with a ticket and it was only thanks to the intervention of a Liverpool employee that he could enter the Stade de France.
The left back explained: “He luckily managed to get in because one of the club representatives sorted it but they said it was a fake ticket which I can assure you it wasn’t so I think they were making it up at times and panicked. For me it shouldn’t really happen, Uefa should have been better organised.”
Robertson’s sympathies lay with Liverpool fans, adding: “I don’t know whether any fans got hurt so we will find that out but fingers crossed everybody is okay. I am sure there is more of a panic for the fans who are actually involved in it. Hopefully everyone is fine. It is never nice especially when you are in a foreign country, you don’t know the lay of the land and things like that, it makes it a wee bit harder.”
Robertson lamented a brilliant display by Thibaut Courtois as Liverpool’s hopes of winning a third trophy this season ended as he said Liverpool could not use the delay as an excuse for their defeat.
“That’s not the reason we lost,” he added. “It is gutting when you have the chances we have had, it is always that bit harder to take. But their keeper had an absolute worldie of a game and the longer the game went it just looked as though we weren’t going to score and weren’t going to have enough which is obviously devastating.”
