Adam Lallana's goal for Liverpool ten minutes from time sent Liverpool fans scrambling for hotels in Basel and Europa League final tickets for two weekends time. While it may be tricky to find accomodation - it sounds like it will be even harder for the legion of Liverpool fans planning to descend on the Swiss city for the Europa League final against holders Sevilla.
Jurgen Klopp said in the aftermath of the rousing semi-final win over Villarreal that as many as 100,000 Liverpool fans will want tickets. They brought 32,000 fans to the Capital One Cup final in Wembley, and have 27,000 season tickets holders who will be desparate to go.
We go to Basle. We take 50, 60, 70 thousand Liverpudlians with us, not in the stadium but in the city. Maybe 100 thousand.
Europa League Final Tickets
But the final is being held in a stadium with a capacity of 35,000 - and the Reds allocations will only be 9,000 tickets. That's a lot of scramble on such short notice to get some prized tickets. Both teams in the final will get the same allocation, with another 9,000 tickets already sold to fans. The remaining 8,000 will be kept by UEFA for commercial, broadcasting, and local committees.
For the lucky few who do manage to get some - ticket prices range from a nice £36, all the way up to £130.
Meanwhile, UEFA's two-year-old decision to host the final in Basel has brought the ire of John Alridge for how small the ground is:
If UEFA want to promote the Europa League as a big competition that top teams want to win, why would they agree to play the final a piddly stadium in Switzerland that is not big enough to stage the event.
St Jakob Park in Basel is host stadium for the final and it holds a little over 35,000 fans, yet Liverpool could fill that three times over for the final.
I know these things are decided in advance, but UEFA would be wise to have a couple of venues at their disposal and pick the one that best suits the teams involved.
UEFA want the Europa League to be taken seriously, so they should play the final at one of the world’s top stadiums. A venue with a decent capacity. What a cock-up.
