Judge us after the Uefa final, says event chief after Spanish media criticism
.................................... .................................... ............................... ..................................... ........................................ THE Welsh boss heading up Saturday’s Uefa Champions League final is confident Cardiff will deliver an epic occasion despite a critical report in the Madrid media warning of hotel and transport chaos.
Spanish newspaper Marca, which has close ties with Real Madrid, published an article yesterday morning where they talked about “hotel shortages, transportation problems and expected delays”.
Headlined “Cardiff scrambling to meet Champions League final’s growing demands”, the report claims “even getting to the stadium will be an odyssey in itself, as most Los Blancos supporters will have to fly to Bristol or Birmingham.”
As finalists Real Madrid and Juventus prepare to come to town for the biggest club match in world football, the Marca story goes on to say “A city of 325,000 won’t have enough flights to accommodate the amount of people that will be travelling.”
It also states “The size of Cardiff airport makes it difficult for even some of the guests of the Madrid players themselves, not to mention the many travelling fans”, before pointing out “Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to find a place to stay that is reasonably priced, as there just aren’t enough options.”
Marca concludes: “While it is sure to be a dream final, getting there may prove to be more of a hassle than many would like.”
The FA of Wales and Welsh Rugby Union, who have worked tirelessly to bring the final to the Principality Stadium, will be perturbed to hear such strongly-held views being aired in the influential Madrid media just five days before the big game kicks off.
But Alan Hamer, who has spent two years as project director for the 2017 final, argued South Wales had received this type of negative publicity before – and come out smelling of roses every time, with Ashes Test cricket, the Ryder Cup and FA Cup finals all proving a roaring success.
Hamer, previously chief executive of Glamorgan Cricket, pointed out: “The same sort of thing happened, albeit on a UK scale, when we brought England versus Australia here for the first time in 2009.