The Champions League final turned chaotic as fans struggled to enter the stadium, with thousands of Manchester City supporters reportedly being funnelled through narrow gaps, creating dangerous scenes. Fans also criticised the lack of toilet facilities and lengthy queues for refreshments at the Ataturk Stadium. Video footage showed slow-moving queues with several fans visibly frustrated at the lack of organisation. However, the stadium slowly filled up, and the City end appeared to be full ahead of kick-off, with hundreds of fans ‘doing the Poznan’. Those who had tickets were glad they did after seeing their side clinch an historic Treble with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of City fans were forced to abandon their taxis while heading to the ground. The motorway towards the stadium from the city was gridlocked with buses and taxis, leaving fans with no option but to walk. There were similar problems with the infrastructure surrounding the ground at the 2005 final. Thousands of fans missed kick-off last year with similar bottlenecking occurring, creating dangerous scenes.
Uefa later apologised over the “frightening events” after they blamed fans for the disorder outside the Stade de France. Earlier this week, supporters were urged to head to the stadium nine hours before kick-off. Uefa chiefs were keen for fans to board shuttle buses at 1pm local time ahead of the 10pm kickoff. They anticipated supporters arriving at around 2pm, before joining fanzones outside the stadium serving food and beer. Upon arrival, fans were required to pass through three separate security checkpoints before entering the ground.