Real Madrid have slammed UEFA's "limited" plan to refund tickets to supporters who attended last May's chaotic Champions League final against Liverpool in Paris, and have offered legal help to their fans who wish to sue European football's governing body for damages.
UEFA announced on Tuesday that they were implementing a new refund scheme for supporters who were at the match, which saw a delayed kick-off due to a mountain of issues caused by UEFA and the French authorities.
After initially being blamed for the incidents, supporters of both Liverpool and Real Madrid were absolved of any blame by an independent report, which Real cite as they criticised UEFA's response.
"Given the forcefulness of the experts' conclusions and the seriousness of the facts described, Real Madrid has been holding talks with UEFA in order to assess the compensation that would be offered to fans," said the club in a statement.
"Our club trusted at all times that these solutions would be commensurate with the seriousness of the facts, the scope of the damages caused and UEFA's responsibility for all of this.
"Unfortunately, our club considers the UEFA proposal insufficient, officially communicated last Tuesday and which consists exclusively of the reimbursement of the price of the tickets, which is also conditioned by the fulfilment of a series of requirements, among which is included demonstrate the time of access to the stadium.
"The content of the report, which was requested by UEFA itself, highlights that all the fans who attended the final were victims of its deficient organisation and saw their safety and physical integrity compromised.
"For this reason, beyond being able to access the stadium or not, or having done so at the scheduled time, which in any case was due to the exceptional behaviour of the fans of the two clubs, the reality is that all the fans suffered an inadmissible delay at the start of the match, in addition to the unacceptable insecurity both in accessing the stadium and in its evacuation, along with additional serious damage such as robberies, assaults and threats.
"For this reason, Real Madrid has decided not to collaborate in the limited compensation procedure promoted by UEFA, which we ask to rectify and assume full responsibility."
The independent report had said that the actions of Liverpool fans in remaining calm during the chaos had likely saved lives.
It read: “The collective actions of Liverpool FC supporters were probably instrumental in protecting vulnerable people and averting what might well have been more serious injuries and deaths. It is remarkable that no one lost their life.”
