On May 29, 1985, Juventus-Liverpool was played at the Heysel in Brussels, a match valid for the Champions Cup final, one of the most important spectacles of the football season. However, this date will forever be remembered, not for Platini's penalty, but for what was unleashed in the stands. Thirty-nine dead: thirty-two Italians, four Belgians, two French and one Northern Irishman died following the scuffles, while six hundred were injured, pandemonium.
handle An archive photo illustrating the tragedy that occurred at the Heysel stadium, where 39 people lost their lives, during the European Cup (now Champions League) final between Juventus and Liverpool, in an image from May 29, 1985.
The Heysel is a dilapidated old stadium which hosted the finals of 1958, 1966 and 1975, while at the 1972 European Championships a renovation was not suitable to create emergency exits. A choice that we will say in retrospect is incomprehensible on the part of UEFA, the walls of the stadium are old, even the rubble is falling. Sixty thousand supporters crowded into the stands and stands, many Italians, UEFA assigning sector Z to those who do not belong to organized groups: in times of ultras, it is a suicidal gesture, the choice is contested by the clubs but whoever decides does it I don't see the reason.
Today Juventus remembers the drama on the web: “The memory remains clear and painful: – continues the message from Juventus – a Champions Cup final that continues to generate consternation, anger and pain, in which , during the crazy pre-match incidents, 39 people lost their lives. A number that has become a symbol, which speaks more than any words of the suffering that we all continue to carry within us, damned. , without ever forgetting the still living drama of that day.
On this cursed day, many supporters entered the Brussels stadium without tickets, some Chelsea ultras having infiltrated. The drama erupts around 7:20 p.m., the net which divides the English supporters is insufficient, too fragile, on the other side of sector Z – where the neutrals are, there is the wall. A “mousetrap”, a predicted tragedy, one will say with the charges of the Liverpool ultras who want to take the turn, while the police try to act as a separation cordon. There is no emergency exit, even when entering the field, as many try, in fact entry to the field is not allowed because the officers are brandishing batons, everyone is in a hurry towards the row of sector Z, with someone jumping. At a certain point, the so-called inadequate wall no longer holds and collapses, an unprecedented hell breaks out, many are crushed and some fans die trampled by other fans.
handle An archive photo illustrating the tragedy that occurred at the Heysel stadium, where 39 people lost their lives, during the European Cup (now Champions League) final between Juventus and Liverpool, in an image from May 29, 1985.
It will be remembered as “the bloody cup” nNobody wanted to play, but UEFA and the Belgian authorities forced both teams, because the withdrawal effect would have led to further clashes in the stands. The risk of an “apocalypse”, as Boniperti would later explain, would have been too great.
Juventus Club remembers this cursed day on its social networks, which remains in the memory of everyone, supporters and others:
“An injury that continues to hurt, a tragedy, a dramatic memory for those who lost their loved ones and for the entire world of Juventus. This time, the time of memory is intertwined in its inexorable flow with a number that has always and forever been linked to this day: 39 years have passed since the abyss of that evening in Brussels.”
