50,000 Liverpool fans flood into Paris for Real Madrid showdown in Champions League final


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Tens of thousands of Liverpool fans continued to descend on Paris ahead of the Champions League final against Real Madrid on Saturday night.

Supporters were singing the Liverpool anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in the sunshine before the match against the 13-time winners Real at the Stade de France, just north of the city.

A huge sea of red shirts surrounded the Cours de Vincennes area in the south-east area of the city during the day, where a fan zone has been set up.

As many as 50,000 supporters, largely ticketless, began gathering early during the day, bringing traffic in the area to a standstill as roads were closed off.

Footballs were being kicked into the air and banners being flown while flares - prohibited by French authorities – were let off in the fan zone.

The huge crowd then sang the club’s famous anthem before cheering club legend Kenny Dalglish to a stage which had been set up.

Liverpool have won six European Cups – more than any other British team – with the most recent coming under current manager Jurgen Klopp in 2019.

Only around 20,000 supporters each from Liverpool and Real will officially be able to watch the match at the Stade de France.

The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

The past winners

2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2010 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2011 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2012 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

About Seez

Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017  

Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer

Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon 

Sector:  Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing

Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed

Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A 

Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds 

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.

Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.

The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder

Transmission: CVT auto

Power: 181bhp

Torque: 244Nm

Price: Dh122,900 

Updated: May 28, 2022, 1:50 PM