MANCHESTER CITY coach Enzo Maresca had a huge scare after winning the Champions League, with his father going missing during the game.
An announcement was made at the Ataturk Stadium for Pascquale de Caro, Maresca’s father, to make himself known to the nearest steward, while City launched an appeal for help on Twitter.
Maresca attempted to contact his father by phone and City informed local police, but it was confirmed at 12.24am on Sunday morning, almost 2.30am in Istanbul, that De Caro had been found.
Meanwhile, a huge number of City fans endured chaos getting to and from the 75,000-seat Ataturk.
Nick Stapleton, a City fan and a reporter on the BBC series Scam Interceptors, shared his frustration on social media.
Stapleton said: “Got to respect UEFA who are, as ever, absolutely committed to making the experience of being a match going fan as miserable as possible even at the Champions League final.
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“I think you’d struggle to find one City fan who thought that was a well organised/easy event to attend. It was a disgrace.”
UEFA had told City fans not to use the local metro network and instead use the shuttle buses provided.
But Stapleton said the journey from the city centre took up to three hours with no water or toilets available, while there was a near two-hour queue for water inside the ground.
After the game, he and his father walked along a grid-locked motorway to find a taxi as there were too few buses available.
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Many other fans, including some family members of the City players, shared similar experiences.
The chaos comes a year after the disastrous Paris final, where Liverpool fans were teargassed outside the Stade de France and an independent report laid the blame at UEFA’s door, saying supporters could have been killed.
UEFA have been contacted for comment.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
