2022 UEFA finals - free on BT Sport (YouTube, App, and others..)

[Itsallaguess]

Just a quick heads up for football fans - BT Sport are again showing all three UEFA finals for free using various channels, such as their YouTube channel, BT Sport App, and Virgin Media, with a few other options detailed in the article below -

BT Sport to show 2022 UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League finals free-to-air -

BT Sport is making the 2022 UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League finals available for everyone in the UK to watch whether on TV, online or on mobile.

All three finals will be available for free at btsport.com/final, via the BT Sport app for small and large-screen devices, including PlayStation, Xbox, Samsung smart TVs, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire and on the BT Sport YouTube channel.

The finals will also be available for anyone to watch on Virgin Media TiVo, TV360 and Stream platforms on channel 532 (HD).

https://www.bt.com/sport/football/champions-league/bt-sport-to-show-free-to-air-uefa-champions-league-europa-league-final

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Itsallaguess]

Just a quick heads up for football fans - BT Sport are again showing all three UEFA finals for free using various channels, such as their YouTube channel, BT Sport App, and Virgin Media

Youtube link here for tonight's Champions League Final -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvsU48M4dpY

Live build up starts from 6pm, with kick-off at 8pm.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[BobbyD]

Bring on yer Internazionale

Bring on yer Romas by the score...

[Itsallaguess]

Well done to Real Madrid.

Difficult to say it's undeserved after such a fantastic run to the final for Madrid, via brilliant come-back wins over PSG, Chelsea, and then that late, late miracle against City over the two semi-final legs.

Liverpool had their chances in the first half, and will be disappointed that they've somehow not managed a goal in open play in any of the three finals they've played this season, two of which they went on to win via penalties.

A hell of a come down over the last 6 days for Liverpool fans, but to think that they've played every single match they could ever have qualified for this season is a remarkable achievement.

This is still the best and most exciting Liverpool squad, and manager, that I've seen in my lifetime, and I've seen quite a few...

They've only lost four games all season, in all competitions..

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[scotview]

Well done to Real Madrid.

Difficult to say it's undeserved after such a fantastic run to the final for Madrid, via brilliant come-back wins over PSG, Chelsea, and then that late, late miracle against City over the two semi-final legs.

Itsallaguess

Aye, those two games with Real Madrid against Man City was some of the most exciting football I've seen for a while.

Disappointed for Liverpool.

[Itsallaguess]

Disappointed for Liverpool.

I've got to be honest and say that missing out on the league by a single point has been harder to take this season.

To know that on only two occasions has a team with over 90 Premier League points not gone on to win the league, and to know that on both of those occasions it's been Liverpool, has been tough to take, even if they've actually had a league win sandwiched in between those two periods...

But that's just how good City have been in recent years as well, and even after tonight's defeat in this Champions League final, I know in my heart that Liverpool fans are truly living in exciting times for the club, both in terms of squad depth and with a manager who fits the club and the city of Liverpool so, so well.

6 days ago, we still thought that with a little luck, a historic quadruple might have still been on, and this Liverpool side almost went and did it.

I'm not quite sure we had a right to even be in the running for that for as long as we were, but what a ride it's been...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Lootman]

Disappointed for Liverpool.

6 days ago, we still thought that with a little luck, a historic quadruple might have still been on, and this Liverpool side almost went and did it.

I'm not quite sure we had a right to even be in the running for that for as long as we were, but what a ride it's been...

In the four competitions, Liverpool finished 1st, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. Has that ever been beaten by a UK club? There have been a few trebles of course, including by Liverpool, but usually that team came nowhere in the 4th competition.

[Dod101]

As a supporter of Man U, I can still say sorry to Liverpool and the Premier league in general but at least it did not go to penalties; it was a clear cut win for Real. Liverpool are not quite the ruthless machine that Klopp thinks they are.

Dod

[terminal7]

None of the coverage of the Paris final mentions Real Madrid fans and whether they experienced problems in the same way as apparently was experienced by Liverpool fans. I would assume that tens of thousands travelled from Madrid - maybe they all had tickets??

T7

[pje16]

As a supporter of Man U, I can still say sorry to Liverpool and the Premier league in general but at least it did not go to penalties; it was a clear cut win for Real. Liverpool are not quite the ruthless machine that Klopp thinks they are.

Dod

Not clear cut for RM at all
stats don't lie
After all you support Man U

Image source@ my screen grab from https://www.flashscore.co.uk/

[simoan]

None of the coverage of the Paris final mentions Real Madrid fans and whether they experienced problems in the same way as apparently was experienced by Liverpool fans. I would assume that tens of thousands travelled from Madrid - maybe they all had tickets??

T7

I'm not sure what you're implying here, but from what I've read the issue had nothing to do with the behaviour of Liverpool fans. Poor organisation by UEFA and ridiculously aggressive and inappropriate behaviour by the French Police were to blame. It'll all be white washed though and the fans will be blamed again. IMHO UEFA is a disgusting organisation (just look at the number of tickets allotted to real fans last night) and it is not difficult to see why the idea of a Super League is not dead.

All the best, Si

[Itsallaguess]

None of the coverage of the Paris final mentions Real Madrid fans and whether they experienced problems in the same way as apparently was experienced by Liverpool fans.

I would assume that tens of thousands travelled from Madrid - maybe they all had tickets??

Only the most one-eyed of commentators could today be taking the view that the issues seen outside the ground before kick-off last night were caused by Liverpool supporters.

Have a read of all the pages of this BBC feed from this morning, and please educate yourself given your current ignorance of the situation -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/61622714

You'll notice that every single one of the many reporters actually on the scene last night have nothing but praise for the Liverpool fans themselves who were caught up in a situation that had nothing to do with them, and everything to do with the clear mismanagement of a large public sporting event...

Then watch this Sky News report -

https://youtu.be/0PBu_YTu9wM?t=257

It's worth watching the whole thing, but the above report will start at the section which clearly shows and explains the issues with the local French who were storming the fences and gates.

I would hope that even the one-eyed commentators like yourself would be able to tell the difference here between the Liverpool fans with tickets unable to get in, and those local French youths who actually caused all the problems...

The French police and UEFA can count themselves lucky that the above articles aren't reporting on a much larger human tragedy from last night, due to the sheer incompetence of the event organisers...

Oh, and by the way, here's some local footage from later in the night, after the match had ended -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CskKccnrtx0

If you take your blinkers off, you'll hopefully be able to make out the colour of the shirts those fans are wearing....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Itsallaguess]

Not clear cut for RM at all

When the Real Madrid goalkeeper gets the man-of-the-match award, having made nine saves as Real Madrid's defence allowed an astonishing 24 shots, and those nine saves were the most since 2003-04 by any keeper in a single Champions League final, then I would like to think that Liverpool and their fans knew they were in the game...

In the second half it did look at though the long seasons had finally caught up with them, but with the score 0-0 at half time, it certainly didn't reflect the relatively one-sided match up to that point...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[terminal7]

I have no idea why these events keep occurring and the behaviour of the local police/security is clearly highly questionable. I have read reports both in the British and French media and can find little reference to Spanish supporters. I assumed that the allocation to the teams would be equal and therefore the number of fans from each side with tickets would be broadly similar. Is anyone suggesting that the local police/security were dealing in different ways with the different sets of fans? Maybe I am completely wrong and that there were much less Real Madrid fans with tickets there - thus not presenting a logistical problem. Also I cannot understand why the football authorities flush with funds cannot ensure the proper and safe marshalling of fans in collaboration with the local law enforcement agencies. The scenes outside Wembley for the 2020 final were another disgrace that appears to have been on a similar scale.

T7

[pje16]

Let's just leave the Liverpool fans alone
they have been through already
Those of a certain vintage (me included) will recall the Hillsborough disaster for which certain misguided media outlets blamed the Liverpool fans
Over 30 years later they were cleared and the blame lay with the police
which I knew the story about from a mate in the force at the time
Full disclosure: I am not a liverpool fan

[Itsallaguess]

Is anyone suggesting that the local police/security were dealing in different ways with the different sets of fans?

The fact that it was the Liverpool fans caught up with this crowd-control issue is down to pure bad luck on their part.

The Stade de France is located just south of the Canal Saint-Denis, with the canal also then running down it's east side as well. With the stadium then also being protected on the west side somewhat by major road networks and the Paris RER railway, any large numbers of local feral French youths that were intent on getting into the stadium or causing trouble near it were always going to hit if from the south side, which is the one facing into the more open and populated residential areas, and Liverpool were just very unlucky in that this was the end of the Stade de France that had been allocated to Liverpool fans...




Source - https://www.eutouring.com/stade_de_france_transport.html

So when Liverpool fans with tickets were turning up 2.5 hours before kick-off and heading towards Gate Y and Gate Z, they found that they weren't being allowed in because of the incompetent handling of ticket-less local youths who were hitting the same south-side of the stadium.

If Real Madrid fans had been allocated the opposite end of the ground to the one they were lucky to get, then the terrible stories coming out from last night would be talking about a completely different set of fans...

As an aside, I should add that this seems to be a very similar set of circumstances to the one that shamefully marred the 2020 Euro Final at Wembley, and we might reflect that such repeated incidents of lawless youths invading family spaces where they had no right to be, and causing very real and distressing problems for law abiding sports fans, is a very worrying trend...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[terminal7]

Itsallaguess

Thanks for the analysis.

I suppose that still leaves us with why the football authorities et al could not have forecast this eventuality. As you state this is not a new phenomena and places in jeopardy many thousands of completely faultless supporters.

T7

ps I would mention I have visited S de F on a few occasions for international rugby matches with full crowds and never experienced any 'crowding' issues on the approaches from the station

[Dod101]

As a supporter of Man U, I can still say sorry to Liverpool and the Premier league in general but at least it did not go to penalties; it was a clear cut win for Real. Liverpool are not quite the ruthless machine that Klopp thinks they are.

Dod

Not clear cut for RM at all
stats don't lie
After all you support Man U

Image source@ my screen grab from https://www.flashscore.co.uk/

When I said it was a clear cut win for Real, it was in the context of the score line and that it did not go to penalties, which I think is always the least satisfactory way of settling these matches. I do not deny that Liverpool were always very much in the game but thanks for the stats anyway.

Dod

[Itsallaguess]

Well following the result yesterday, and the terrible scenes around the stadium, I wasn't feeling too good at all this time last night, but having watched some of the open-top bus parade from Liverpool today, and seeing how much the huge turnout of fans meant to those players, it was great to see how much the thousands of fans appreciated just what a great season Liverpool have had.

My favourite picture from today's parade -



Source - https://twitter.com/emilyaldridge12/status/1530976600409493504

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[pje16]

Let's just leave the Liverpool fans alone
they have been through already
Those of a certain vintage (me included) will recall the Hillsborough disaster for which certain misguided media outlets blamed the Liverpool fans
Over 30 years later they were cleared and the blame lay with the police
which I knew the story about from a mate in the force at the time
Full disclosure: I am not a liverpool fan

Typical of the French
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61630201

Ce n'est jamais notre faute
Champions League final: France blames 'massive' ticket fraud as policing row rages