Chaos outside the Stade de France has marred the Champions League final build-up, with kick-off now pushed back by 36 minutes as fans struggle to get in.
It has been reported that hundreds of supporters were able to force their way through screening outside the ground in Paris, and are unlikely to have tickets. While they may not be inside the stadium, they will have access to its surroundings.
Tens of thousands missed out on bagging tickets for the highly-anticipated showdown tonight, and it is believed many have headed to the capital regardless.
And it appears that, amid unsightly scenes, troublemakers have managed to break through security gates and past the police officers safeguarding the event.
It was revealed recently that both Liverpool and Real Madrid received just 20,000 tickets each for the showpiece, despite the venue holding a capacity of 80,000.
Numerous reporters around the stadium have said they have been told by supporters that they have been waiting for two or more hours to get past security.
bottleneck is also said to have built up on the way to Gate U, and issues with public transport across Paris also disrupted the journeys for many fans throughout the day.
Indeed, RMC have claimed that at the entrance to Gate U, several supporters were set to pass through the first screening, before people pushing led to movement in the crowd. That was controlled by the police, but several repeats have happened.
The publication say that any form of filtering has now ‘disappeared’.
Sportsmail‘s Rob Draper has taken to social media to explain the situation.
“Sad to relate it’s chaos outside, police funnelling fans into dangerously narrow routes – because their vans are parked blocking the pavement,” he posted on Twitter.
“Dangerous crush building up behind… when you get through it’s worse, channelled away from walkways. Now crowd building up trying to get to ticket checks. You literally can’t get to front to show ticket as it’s so narrow and so many people…”
Another video online shows a line of police officers moving beyond a steady shuffle of people, although the caption alleges that Madrid fans were ‘attacked’.
As a result of the issues, concern is rising that not every supporter will have taken their seat around the stands before the final gets underway at 8:00pm BST.
Speaking to AP while queuing, a fan said: “It’s absolutely horrendous.
“There’s a bottleneck down there and there’s literally a six-foot gap for maybe 20,000 Liverpool fans to get in.
We are absolutely being pushed from pillar to post. I have an 82-year-old father in law here. It’s just madness. I’m really sorry but there are just thousands behind us.’
Gary Lineker said the chaos outside the venue was ‘carnage’.
He tweeted: “Finding it impossible to get in the ground. This appears to be very dangerous. Absolute carnage.”
The Associated Press have reported that two fans, one of which was wearing Liverpool attire, was wrestled to the ground by stewards and bundled out the gates.
Another supporter evaded stewards and was seen sprinting through the concourse.
