EUROPEAN SUPER CUP | REAL MADRID - EINTRACHT
The UEFA challenge and a gala dinner without the expected face-to-face
The agency needs everything to go well after the incidents in Paris. Florentino Pérez did not attend the gala dinner; he lands today in Helsinki. Luis Rubiales will be in the Olympic box.
The European Super Cup is a challenge for UEFA, a test to see if it has learned from its most recent mistakes, especially the Champions League final in Paris . Tonight's game has far fewer dangerous attractions, but there is a differential element: the Eintracht fans, who are distinguishing themselves for being one of the most problematic, as they already showed in the Bundesliga debut against Bayern, at the who interrupted the match with flares and field invasions.
Eintracht fans are going to be the overwhelming majority at the Helsinki Olympics: about 10,000, at least, against less than 2,000 from Madrid. Yesterday in the UEFA Fan Zone in the center of Helsinki, for the moment, everything was good vibes: photos with the three available trophies (the Champions League, the Europa League and the Super Cup), some timid chants and little Spanish presence.
But today the Helsinki Police know that history can be very different, especially if it takes as a reference the final of the Europa League in Seville, in which the Eintracht and Rangers ultras mounted a pitched battle through the streets of the Seville city. For this reason, the security forces of the Finnish capital have prepared a special device to keep Frankfurt fans under control, especially the most radical group.
Without face to face Ceferin-Florentino
The one that cannot afford another setback is UEFA, after what happened in Paris: the lack of control at the entrance of fans before the Champions League final, causing it to be delayed by more than half an hour, left the organization in a very bad place; also to the city of Paris, which allowed indiscriminate robberies to fans , so much so that the Government has already apologized.
Meanwhile, yesterday a decaffeinated gala dinner took place at the Helsinki City Hall: Florentino did not attend, despite the fact that it was planned. The president will arrive in Helsinki on Wednesday. There was no reunion with Ceferin last night, since Jose Angel Sanchez, general director, and Emilio Butraguen
o, director of Institutional Relations , represented Madrid in it. Tonight he has already confirmed that Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, will attend the duel.