The stadium was in need of maintenance and had not been adequately updated. Approximately an hour before the Juventus—Liverpool final was due to kick off, incidents of aggression between the two sets of supporters were taking place across the flimsy divide between the Liverpool section and what was intended to have been the "neutral" section, populated by those who had purchased tickets in Belgium.
They charged at Juventus supporters and breached a fence that was separating them from a "neutral area". The game was played despite the pre-match incidents by authorities and organizers' joint decision for public policy doctrine reasons [ 9 ] after a state of siege was declared in the city, [ 10 ] with Juventus winning 1—0.
The tragedy resulted in all English football clubs being placed under an indefinite ban by Union of European Football Associations UEFA from all European competitions lifted in —91 , with Liverpool being excluded for an additional three years, later reduced to one, [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] and 14 Liverpool fans were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
The disaster was later described as "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions". In May , Liverpool were the defending European Champions' Cup winners, having won the competition after defeating Roma on penalties in the previous season's final.
Again, they would face Italian opposition, Juventus , which had won unbeaten the —84 Cup Winners' Cup. Juventus had a team of many of Italy 's World Cup winning team, which played for Juventus for many years, and its playmaker , Michel Platini , was considered the best footballer in Europe and was named Footballer of The Year by the magazine France Football for the second year in a row in December Both teams were placed in the two first positions in the UEFA club ranking at the end of the previous season [ 16 ] and were regarded by the specialist press as the two best teams on the continent.
