About the tickets Mr Platini. What, nothing to say?

May 23 2007 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

THIS is the moment when Uefa chief Michel Platini came face to face with the ECHO.

In a bid to get the answers which Liverpool fans demand over the Champions League ticketing fiasco, ECHO reporter Tony Barrett evaded a huge security operation to confront Platini at his Athens hotel.

The former French international and current Uefa president was happy to chat until the issue of tickets was raised.

The conversation went:

ECHO: Mr Platini, are you satisfied with the way tickets have been distributed for the final?

Platini: No comment.

ECHO: There has been a lot of criticism from Liverpool fans about the way tickets have been distributed. Does that concern you?

Platini: No comment.

ECHO: Mr Platini, are you aware there are thousands of ticketless fans outside this hotel? Do you have any spares for them?

Platini: (laughs) . . . No comment.

So there you have it, a man of very few words – when it comes to tickets.

Luckily, Mr Platini does not have to worry about tickets. Nor does he have to worry about finding digs in Athens as his position as "father" of the "Uefa family" guarantees him one of the best rooms at the Grande Bretagne, reputed to be the finest hotel in the Greek capital.

Among the other guests staying at the Grande Bretagne are former Uefa president Lennart Johansson, FA chairman Geoff Thompson, former Denmark star Michael Laudrup and Peter Kenyon, Chelsea chief executive.

The five-star hotel is in Syntagma Square, where most of Liverpool's travelling army have been gathering in the build-up to tonight's final.

Yesterday afternoon, a torrential downpour of bibilcal proportions drenched the Reds fans and many of them ran for cover in the hotel.

But as they got to the door they were refused entry.