Real Madrid dismiss Uefa’s Champions League final refunds as ‘insufficient’

Real Madrid have rejected Uefa’s plan to compensate fans who attended the Champions League final against Liverpool in Paris last May, and will instead offer their supporters legal advice so that they can sue for damages.

After discussions with European football’s governing body, Madrid described the proposal to refund the cost of some tickets as “insufficient”, insisted that “all supporters suffered” and announced their refusal to take part in the process.

After an independent review absolved supporters of blame and found Uefa had “primary responsibility” for the catastrophic organisational and safety failures, the governing body proposed a package in which all Liverpool fans who bought from their club’s allocation would get their ticket money back but the same would not apply to Madrid supporters.

In a strongly worded statement, which cited supporters needing medical attention and even hospital treatment, Madrid demanded that Uefa “rectify” its proposal and “assume full responsibility”. The club said they had held discussions with Uefa but that their hopes that the scheme would be commensurate with the “gravity” of events were not met. They dismissed as unacceptable a package that consists of refunding tickets under conditions including not getting into the stadium before the scheduled kick-off or not being able to enter at all.

“The report, requested by Uefa itself, makes clear that all the supporters who attended the final were victims of their inadequate organisation and saw their security and physical safety compromised,” the statement said.

“Beyond the question of whether or not supporters were able to enter the stadium or do so at the correct time, which in any case was due to the exceptional behaviour of fans of