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John Bishop is one of those speaking out about the treatment of fans at the UEFA Champions League final in Paris, branding it ‘disgraceful’.
The highly anticipated game was overshadowed when thousands of Liverpool fans were prevented from entering the stadium, causing dangerous bottlenecks and potential crushes.
Unprovoked, police used pepper spray on women and young children to prevent the remote threat of supporters storming the fences in order to ensure they made it into the ground ahead of the scheduled start.
Videos posted on social media showed fans climbing over fences to get into the ground and pepper spray being used, as well as police clashing with fans.
Play had to be delayed by more than half an hour but some fans still didn’t make it into the ground. UEFA later blamed the delay on supporters who they alleged turned up without authentic tickets in a widely-criticised statement.
Comedian Bishop, who was at the game, tweeted: ‘At the gate in Paris – been here for 25 minutes and nobody has been allowed in – disgraceful treatment of fans who are displaying an unbelievable level of patience.’
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‘Finding it impossible to get in the ground,’ he tweeted. ‘This appears to be very dangerous. Absolute carnage.’
Lineker added: ‘I’m not sure it’s possible to have a more poorly organised event if you tried. Absolutely shambolic and dangerous.’
He went on to describe UEFA’s statement blaming the late arrival of fans ‘utter bulls**t’.
Piers Morgan also weighed in after watching videos of the scenes in Paris, branding the organisation a ‘shameful failure’.
‘What the hell is going on in Paris?’ he asked on Twitter.
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‘Looks like very dangerous chaos outside the ground, kick-off delayed 30 minutes, 1000s of people not yet inside the stadium. How can this be happening in a Champions League final? Shameful failure of organisation.’
Sharing a video of fans being teargassed, he added: ‘Disgusting. French police have lost the plot.’
Real Madrid won 1-0 at the match, although the result was overshadowed by the scary scenes emerging from the stadium.
Following the match, UEFA laid the blame at supporters who they alleged turned up without authentic tickets.
A widely criticised statement from UEFA read: ‘This created a build-up of fans trying to get in. As a result, the kick off was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans as possible with genuine tickets to gain access.
‘As numbers outside the stadium continued to build up after kick off, the police dispersed them with tear gas and forced them away from the stadium.
‘UEFA is sympathetic to those affected by these events and will further review these matters urgently together with the French police and authorities, and with the French Football Federation.’
A Liverpool statement read: ‘We are hugely disappointed at the stadium entry issues and break down of the security perimeter that Liverpool fans faced this evening at the Stade de France.
‘This is the greatest match in European football and supporters should not have to experience the scenes we have witnessed tonight. We have officially requested a formal investigation into the causes of these unacceptable issue.’
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