Jordan Henderson’s father will not go to World Cup after ‘horrific’ scenes in Paris

Jordan Henderson says he would think twice about attending a big football match as a fan after the “horrific” scenes at the Champions League final in Paris last season and the European Championship final at Wembley the previous summer.

The Liverpool and England midfielder, who was involved in both games, has dreadful stories to tell about the experiences of his family at each. He says his father, Brian, decided after Paris that he would not travel again, meaning he would not follow England to the World Cup finals in Qatar. Henderson has other family members who have been similarly put off.

The Champions League final in May was marred by organisational chaos and dangerous scenes before, during and afterwards. Thousands of supporters missed kick-off, which was delayed by 36 minutes because of congestion outside the Stade de France where Liverpool fans had been corralled into a bottleneck. The police used teargas indiscriminately and local youths attacked and robbed supporters.

“It was pretty horrific,” Henderson said. “When I spoke to some of my friends and my family and my dad, it was pretty bad. If the fans weren’t respectful there could have been a lot more problems. I think the fans were amazing.

“It was the authorities and the people around the stadium that weren’t and were causing issues. I suppose as a fan, if you’re going to the game and you don’t feel comfortable and you feel threatened by whatever situation, you’re not going to want to go again. It’s as simple as that really.

“My family and friends have had a couple of experiences over the last couple of years which have really shocked them and probably put them off going to future games. When you see scenes like you have in the Euros final, in the Champions