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Exclusive: Uefa and police plan biggest ever security operation for Tottenham vs Liverpool Champions League final
Uefa and police are planning the biggest security operation in Champions League history for next month's final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid.
Scenario-planning for an all-English final, with potentially hundreds of thousands of ticketless fans flooding the Spanish capital ahead of the evening kick-off, was well-advanced even before the two clubs sealed their remarkable semi-final second-leg comebacks.
Uefa has been in contact with security chiefs at both Spurs and Liverpool while officers from Scotland Yard and Merseyside Police are sharing intelligence with Spanish counterparts as part of the ring of steel plan for June 1.
Armed police squads and facial recognition technology will be on hand to keep potential troublemakers at bay. Liverpool and Tottenham have been allocated just 16,613 tickets each for the 68,000-capacity Estadio Metropolitano stadium.
The rest will go to 4,000 so-called "worldwide" fans, the local organising committee, Uefa and national associations, commercial partners, broadcasters and corporate hospitality. There have been no cases of bad behaviour by Spurs fans in Europe this season, but six Liverpool fans were detained in Barcelona ahead of their semi-final first-leg.
Some supporters accused the Spanish authorities of employing heavy-handed tactics. However, the prospect of two sets of English fans gathering in the city's bars all day in the Spanish sunshine has been a concern for security chiefs for some weeks.
Uefa has told the Daily Telegraph its "number one priority" is in ensuring safety and security. "Since the beginning of the 2019 Uefa Champions League Final project, we have worked closely with the Spanish Football Association, the local organising committee, the police, governmental agencies and authorities in Madrid to ensure that all the necessary arrangements are made to provide a safe and secure environment for this match," a spokesman said.
"We had already discussed security arrangements with the potential participating clubs ahead of the semi-finals and will further collaborate with the finalists on the matter until the final."
Security expert Colin Sutton, the former Scotland Yard detective who cracked the Levi Bellfield murder case, said June 1 is "as big as it gets" in terms of a coordinated football policing plan. "It's massive, but let's remember both the Met and Merseyside Police are hugely experienced and will already be liaising with Madrid as well as planning their own presence," said the former officer, who is a season-ticket holder at Tottenham.
"Spurs and Liverpool supporters do not have a bad history between them and policing games has evolved and improved over 20 years. so I am sure this will be a great night."
Fans were yesterday facing a scramble to get the flights and hotels booked as Liverpool announced stadium ticket pricing details. The cheapest tickets are £60, but only account for 20 per cent of the Reds' allocation. More than half of tickets are priced at £154, 20 per cent at £385 and five per cent at £513.
Tottenham, who beat Ajax to reach the final, have not announced pricing details. As well as facing a desperate scramble for tickets, fans are also facing soaring travel and hotel rates. Some return flights over the weekend from London and Liverpool were quoted at over £1,000.
Liverpool mayor Steve Rotherham accused easyJet of exploiting football fans, quoting price hikes of 683 per cent, which is "quite simply profiteering from the passion of football fans". easyJet denied his claims. Anthoulla Achilleos, of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust, said the prices were "ridiculous".