Roberta Metsola enjoys UCL final with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin and Rafael Nadal

May 29 2022

As Real Madrid emerged victorious over Liverpool with a 1-0 score, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola enjoyed the UEFA Champions League final with the likes of president Aleksander Čeferin and professional tennis player Rafael Nadal.

The President was enjoying every second of the match, posing for photos for her Instagram story in front of the trophy with the renowned tennis player.

The much anticipated match was attended by many celebrities, with singer Camila Cabello opening the evening with a spectacular and colourful performance with some of her biggest hits.

Those weren’t the only notable faces attending the game, as Dua Lipa, who had also opened a Champions League final back in 2018, attended the match and cultivated a very close connection with the club and its fans, attended the match.

Some other notable football figures also attended the defining game, from Real Madrid legends such as Iker Casillas and Roberto Carlos, to Liverpool mainstays Sir Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard.

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Liverpool fans pepper-sprayed amid chaos as club requests investigation

May 29 2022

After the kick-off for Saturday’s Champions League final was delayed by 36 minutes due to safety concerns, Liverpool expressed their disappointment at how fans outside the stadium gates were treated.

Chaotic scenes ensued outside the Paris stadium, leading to bottlenecks and police deploying pepper spray and tear gas. Questions were thus raised about UEFA’s organisation of the major event.

Various footage show fans standing outside a locked gate half an hour after the scheduled kick off time at the Stade de France. UEFA said that some Liverpool fans purchased fake tickets, and they were to blame for creating massive blockages.

‘Supporters should not have to experience the scenes we have witnessed tonight’ said Liverpool, expressing their disappointment. ‘We have officially requested a formal investigation into the causes of these unacceptable issues.’

Problems were visible for about two and a half hours before the game was due to start. A pre-check of tickets might have made sense considering the Wembley stadium chaos at the Euro final last July, but the bottleneck caused a potentially dangerous build-up.

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Bernard Grech reelected as PN leader with 80% of votes

May 29 2022

Bernard Grech has once again been re-elected to lead the Nationalist Party, securing 81% of the vote during the internal party election.

Grech was running the race solo, seeing a 90% turnout of the 1,564 eligible party candidates. The leader received 1,124 votes in his favour and 266 against. 12 votes were invalid.

Grech had previously pointed to internal fractures within the party to be part of the reason why the Opposition could not be elected into government.

According to PN rules, the vote was only taken by party councillors and not members since Grech ran uncontested. He only needed a simply majority of 50% plus one vote to be reelected.

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Real Madrid beat Liverpool to win Champions League

May 29 2022

Spanish champions Real Madrid have won yet another Champions League, this time beating English side Liverpool in the Stade De France located in Paris. This was a replay of the 2018 final in Kyiv, when Real Madrid also succeeded beating Liverpool 3-1.

This time around it was closer and less dramatic even though it did have it’s fair share of controversies like every other Champions League final does. Los Blancos edged out a 1-0 win relying on their strong defense and their keeper Thibaut Courtois.

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The game actually started nearly 40 minutes late after security concerns outside of the stadium. Footage released on social media showed many fans sufferings from tear gas attacks from security personnel.

The final began with Liverpool on the front foot and Real Madrid taking a more calm approach. The Liverpool players seemed excited and nervous to open the scoresheet whilst the Madrid players seemed relaxed and tried to counter Liverpool’s high press with every opportunity. Their game plan almost worked in the dying minutes of the first half, when star striker Karim Benzema scored a goal that was later controversially disallowed for offside.

Real Madrid started to attack the Liverpool defence more in the second half, but were still creating less chances than their opponents. Liverpool’s attack were not clinical on the night with Madrid keeper Courtois saving nearly every threatening shot he faced. The scoresheet was finally opened in the 59th minute when Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr managed to capitalize on a good pass by Federico Valverde to give Real Madrid the lead. After finding the net Real Madrid’s main aim was to protect their net and keep a clean sheet and that is exaclty what happened.

This win also made Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti the most decorated manager in Champions League history with him winning it a record 4 times now.

This is their 14th time winning the historic trophy and it surely won’t be their last.

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