Kenny Dalglish still remorseful over
Heysel Stadium disaster
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has admitted that the Heysel stadium disaster of 1985 has had a lasting effect on him. The Scot’s comments come in the wake of the upcoming Europa League clash between Liverpool and Sparta Prague.
The Reds will face the Czech club at Anfield in the first leg of their Europa League round of 32 fixture. Manager, Kenny Dalglish, will be leading http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 into European competition for the first time since the infamous Heysel disaster
– an incident which still haunts the Scot.
The Heysel disaster occurred on 29 May, 1985, when a wall collapsed under the weight of fans in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Rioting before the start of the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at the venue led to the
disaster, resulting in the deaths of 39 fans. Kenny Dalglish was the Liverpool manager at the time.
The incident forced Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to ban all English clubs from European competition for five years, with Liverpool being handed a six year ban for the role of their fans in the disaster. It was later
described as “the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions.”
While Dalglish is excited about the prospect of leading Liverpool against the best in Europe once again, he claims that the Heysel disaster will still be in the back of his mind. He said, “I regret far more what happened at Heysel than
not managing Liverpool in Europe. For so many to lose their lives at a football game was appalling and it was right somebody was punished. We just wish the ban had never happened because that would have meant Heysel had never happened as well.”
Asked whether Liverpool would have been successful in Europe, had they not been handed a six year ban, Dalglish replied, “There is no use living in the past. There are a lot of conversations about whether we would have been good or bad or indifferent in
Europe but that is hypothetical. We had a fantastic team and it would've been nice to have seen them get the chance but we just have to accept that's what happened.”
Sparta Prague travel to Anfield on 17 February for the first leg of their round of 32 fixture against Liverpool.
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