Hundreds of Tottenham fans might miss UCL final after plane delayed

  /  autty

Scores of Tottenham supporters face a race against time to reach the Champions League final in Madrid after a Thomas Cook aircraft was delayed by over five hours.

Thomas Cook said the charter plane that had been arranged to fly the group of almost 200 Spurs fans - who had paid Β£559 each - to Madrid had suffered a bird strike and wasn't deemed safe to operate.

The fans were left stranded at Stansted Airport for five hours while a replacement aircraft was flown from Manchester.

But though Thomas Cook said the replacement plane would depart Stansted at 4.30pm UK time, it would not land in Madrid until 7.30pm local time, leaving just a 90-minute window to get the fans to the match.

The final against Liverpool at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano stadium is due to kick-off at 9pm local time but there is a high chance the stranded fans will miss the start of their team's first-ever Champions League final.

A Thomas Cook statement said: 'One of our six chartered aircraft taking Tottenham Hotspur supporters to Madrid suffered a bird strike on its way to Stansted Airport and was deemed not safe to operate.

'We have sourced an alternative aircraft to take the remaining fans to the match in time.

'The other five aircraft with supporters on have all landed in Madrid.'

Related: Tottenham Hotspur
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