[lfc-news] Liverpool are back at football's high altar - Post

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Liverpool Daily Post, 4 May 2005
Liverpool are back at football's high altar
Now it's up to the fans to book their place for the Champions League
Final. Andy Kelly reports

THOUSANDS of Liverpool FC fans will wake up with a hangover and just one
thought this morning after last night's famous semi-final victory over
Chelsea - how on earth am I going to get over to Istanbul?

The Champions League final will be held in the Ataturk Olympic Stadium
in the south of the city on Wednesday, May 25, exactly three weeks today.

Turkey is without doubt one of the more difficult destinations Liverpool
fans have ever had to try to reach to attend a European final.

As the name implies, the stadium - home to Galatasaray since 2003 - was
actually built to support Istanbul's ultimately unsuccessful bid to host
the 2012 Olmypics which London remains in the running for.

Capacity is normally 80,597 but for the Champions League final this will
be reduced to just under 70,000.

Some seats will not be on sale due to security arrangements, media
arrangements or obstructed views.

Liverpool FC and their final opponents will be granted around 20,000
tickets each.

It is likely the LFC tickets will be distributed on a priority system
similar to that employed for last night's semi-final.

The rest of the tickets for the Istanbul stadium are split between UEFA,
the national football associations of Europe, media and sponsors.

An internet lottery for 7,500 tickets for "neutral" fans also took place
between March 31 and April 16.

Fans had the chance to apply for two final tickets with successful
applicants chosen by lottery. Winners will be informed by email by
Monday at the latest.

The highest proportion of the applications (30%) were received from
England and almost certainly from Liverpool and Chelsea fans
anticipating a semi-final victory.

Italy accounted for around 13% but applications came from 88 countries.

Lonsdale Travel, the official travel partners of LFC, are planning to
run day trips and overnight stays to Istanbul, and will have details
available for fans from around 6pm tonight via their website.

Last night, Vicky Harding, spokeswoman for Lonsdale's sports division,
said: "We're anticipating a very busy morning answering enquiries but
all the details will not be released until 6pm.

"The club have also asked us not to start taking bookings until next
Monday evening (May 9).

"We've had a lot of calls since the Juve game and again following the
first leg with Chelsea.

"We're hoping we will have around 5,000 tickets available to us for our
packages, though we're not 100% sure yet.

"The club may operate a priority scheme like they did for the Chelsea game.

"People who travel with us have to be a member of the European Travel
Club or a Season Ticket Holder anyway. We are trying to work out what
hotel space is available before determining how the packages are split
and we've had things on hold for a while."

Robin Tudor, corporate affairs manager at Liverpool John Lennon Airport,
said JLA was expecting some of its busiest ever days for the Champions
League Final.

He said: "The companies which book the charter planes for the European
games have already been in touch and are talking about phenomenal numbers.

"There is talk 40,000 people may be travelling. What tends to happen is
that the London branch of the LFC supporters will fly from down there
and there will certainly be flights from Manchester as well but we are
looking forward to welcoming thousands of fans setting off right here in
Liverpool.

"We're already into the summer season now with the start of May and
these could be some of our busiest days ever."

Historically, of course, many fans will be making their own way to the
final and internet sites will be trawled this morning as thousands try
to work out the most cost effective way of getting to the club's most
important game for 20 years.

Supporters' sites are already suggesting routes via Bulgaria while
others may be tempted to holiday in Turkey's traditional resorts on the
Mediterranean coast before risking an internal trip on public transport
to make it to Istanbul.

* TICKETS for the final will be priced at seven different levels - 150
euro, 130 euro, 110 euro, 100 euro, 90 euro, 50 euro and disabled, 20 euro.

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