Europe

PARIS - Chaotic scenes at the French national stadium before and during Saturday night's Champions League final were branded a national embarrassment, while French ministers blamed Liverpool fans for the trouble.

The final between Liverpool and Real Madrid kicked off with a 35-minute delay after police tried to hold back people attempting to force their way into the Stade de France without tickets, while some ticket holders complained they were not let in.

How will Mohamed Salah remember the 2021-22 season? He hardly featured in the club's run to an FA Cup and EFL Cup double – logging a total of just 243 minutes across those two competitions — but Salah registered incredible numbers in the Premier League and Champions League (31 goals and 16 assists in 48 appearances) while the Reds came up agonizingly short in both competitions.

Salah's year was also soured by defeat to Sadio Mané's Senegal in both the Africa Cup of Nations final and the CAF World Cup qualifying playoffs, both of which occurred after the new year. 

Thibaut Courtois immortalized himself into the goalkeeper hall of fame with one of the greatest ever performances during Real Madrid’s 1-0 victory against Liverpool in the 2022 UEFA Champions League final.

Courtois was a one-man wall who wouldn’t have been scored on if the game lasted another 90 minutes. Liverpool in all its attacking glory was snuffed out by a 6 feet 7 inches tall Belgian with spaghetti for arms and legs.

The 2022 Champions League Final — the most anticipated match of the year featuring Real Madrid and Liverpool, two of the world's most-followed clubs — was delayed 36 minutes after chaos outside the Stade de France in Paris resulted in the closure of gates and the slow filtering of supporters into the Liverpool end.

The original postponement was for 15 minutes, although an additional 15 was later added, as UEFA initially blamed the late arrival of Liverpool fans for the delay.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp dedicated Saturday's Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris to the people of Ukraine, expressing support for the country against Russia's invasion.

The game, a rematch of the 2018 final, had been scheduled for St Petersburg's Gazprom Arena but was shifted to the Stade de France after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor.

"I am happy that the game is here for thousands of reasons," Klopp told reporters. The war is still going on and we have to think about that."