May 29, 1985 Built in 1930, the Heysel Stadium was outdated and, in retrospect, not a suitable venue for a match such as the European Cup Final. Large parts of the stadium were crumbling. Even at the time many felt the ground was patently unsafe for football, with Liverpool Chief Executive Peter Robinson urging UEFA to use another venue.[4]
The stadium was crammed with 58,00060,000 supporters, with more than 25,000 for each team. The two ends behind the goals comprised all-standing terraces, each end split into three zones. The Juventus end was O, N and M. At the other end Liverpool were allocated X and Y, with the Z section (to one side) being reserved for neutral Belgian fans. The idea of this large neutral area was opposed by both Liverpool and Juventus,[5] as it would provide an opportunity for fans of both clubs to obtain tickets from agencies or from ticket touts outside the ground and thus create a dangerous mix of fans. At the time Brussels had a large Italian community, and many expatriate Juventus fans bought the section Z tickets.[6] Added to this, many tickets were bought up and sold by travel agents, mainly to Juventus fans. A small percentage of the tickets ended up in the hands of Liverpool fans. To add to the tension, the Liverpool X and Y sections were overcrowded after many fans managed to get in without tickets, and most of the fans had been drinking all day.[3] The situation was volatile. Confrontation At approximately 7pm local time, an hour before kick-off, the trouble started.[7] The Liverpool and Juventus supporters in sections Y and Z stood merely yards apart. The boundary between the two was marked by temporary chicken-wire fencing and a central thinly-policed no-man's land.[8] It isn't clear who started throwing missiles; but as a result missiles began to be exchanged across the divide. One often-quoted source of the missiles was the crumbling stadium itself; fans could literally pick up stones from the terraces beneath them. As kick-off approached, the throwing became more intense. A group of Liverpool fans charged across the terraces, through and over the wire fence into section Z causing the Juventus fans to retreat. Having no way out, the Juventus fans moved towards the side perimeter wall, near to the corner flag. Some tried to climb over the wall to escape. The ageing wall could not withstand the weight and collapsed. It was at this point that the majority of the deaths occurred - 39 people died, and a further 600 were injured.[8][9] Bodies were carried away on sections of iron fencing and laid in piles outside, covered with giant football flags. As police and medical helicopters flew in, the down-draught blew away the modest coverings. The situation was chaotic. In retaliation for the events in section Z, Juventus fans then rioted at their end of the stadium. They advanced down the stadium running track towards the Liverpool supporters seeking confrontation, but police intervention stopped the advance. The Juventus fans fought the police with rocks, bottles and missiles for two hours. One even fired a pistol[10] (later verified as being a starting pistol). When the game eventually kicked off, riot police were still fighting a pitched battle with Juventus supporters, and they maintained a presence around the entire pitch for the duration of the game. Despite the scale of the disaster, it was felt that abandoning the game would have risked inciting further trouble, and the match eventually kicked off after the captains of both sides spoke to the crowd and appealed for calm. Although accounts vary, it appears that most players from both teams were unaware that there had been deaths. Indeed, some supporters have said that it wasn't until after the game that they found out that people had died. Juventus won the match 1-0 thanks to a controversial penalty scored by Michel Platini. The penalty was awarded by Swiss referee Daina for a foul against Zbigniew Boniek, but the foul was clearly committed at least two meters outside the penalty area. This created some conjectures about the intent of favouring Juventus in order to avoid extra time. Ian Rush said that before the match,he heard loud voice,like a bomb had fall down.Then the Liverpool players and staff's knew that threre was a massive accident that Juventus players died. Then all the players were shocked to hear that news."Back then,when we heard the news before the game..we were so shocked! Then on the pitch when we played againts Juventus,our minds were like in other dimension.And when the penalty had been given,we didn't protesed we just want to leave from this nightmare.." --- In [email protected], omar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > frely <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: gak ada bedanya kan ma post match interviewnya SAF? > Â"Last week, Milan were fresher and better prepared tactically and physically." >
