Almost 3,000 Liverpool fans have signed up to a series of compensation claims against Uefa for the trauma they suffered during the Champions League final last year.
Uefa's own review has concluded that they bear "primary responsibility" for the drastic failures that almost turned last season's Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid into a "mass fatality catastrophe."
The damning independent report also strongly rejects suggestions that the chaos was somehow caused by Liverpool fans without valid tickets, describing such claims as a "reprehensible" attempt by the authorities to deflect responsibility for their own failings.
Fans were penned in and pepper-sprayed outside Paris's Stade de France before muggings by local gangs and, as well as Uefa, searing criticisms have been made of the French police and French Football Federation for the organisation of an event that almost led to disaster. "It is remarkable that no one lost their life," said the report.
Uefa have apologised and announced a special refund scheme for supporters but, according to those legal teams representing Liverpool fans, fans deserve "proper compensation" for their horrendous experiences.
Pogust Goodhead, who are running a legal case alongside Liverpool firm Binghams on behalf of more than 2,000 fans, will write to Uefa this week and invite them to take responsibility and discuss compensation. They also intend to file a letter of claim by the end of the month.
'It was the worst day of my life'
Leigh Day, who are representing more than 600 Liverpool fans, will send a letter of claim within the next fortnight.
Among the Leigh Day clients is Andrew Patterson, a lifelong Liverpool fan who described the devastating impact of that experience. "It was the worst day of my life and I'm still dealing with the issues now," he said. "I still can't deal with big crowds, I still wake up with night terrors, I can't recount the story without tears. It's messed me up in a big way.
"I'm type one diabetic and the insulin I carry with me was destroyed by the heat because we were all packed in so closely together. So, from about two and a half hours before the game I was in a really dangerous position. Then, when I was going through the gate, I was pushed against the fence which ripped the sensor off my arm that monitors my blood sugars. I started panicking because now I had no way of monitoring my sugars and no medication. Uefa didn't just ruin the day, for a lot of people, they ruined lives."
During testimony to the French Senate last year, Ted Morris, the chair of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters' Association and Joe Blott, the chair of The Spirit of Shankly, described "a completely horrendous experience" that left supporters with "what happened at Hillsborough in our heads".
Morris, a wheelchair user who relies upon the assistance of his wife, said that disabled fans were treated like "animals" and detailed a catalogue of traumatic experiences that included a14-year-old boy with the rare congenital disorder Williams syndrome being teargassed; a blind man fearing for his life after being chased by gangs and having bottles thrown at him; a disabled woman being violently attacked and subjected to a "grotesque assault"; wheelchair users being teargassed and crowd-surfed to safety; and an eight-year-old autistic boy with dyspraxia being separated from his father and brother after being "crushed outside the gate" and teargassed.
'We call on Uefa to accept responsibility'
Tony Winterburn, partner at Pogust Goodhead, said that Uefa's safety plan was "written around a myth" that Liverpool were going to cause trouble that day. "We are calling on Uefa and in particular its President Aleksander Ceferin personally, to do the right thing and publicly accept responsibility," he said.
"An apology is a start, but it simply does not go far enough. We want our clients, alongside all other fans, who have been proven to be blameless, to be compensated for the psychological and physical trauma they experienced on that day, and for the subsequent trauma they experienced after the event when authorities continued to place blame at their door despite knowing this was untrue."
The law firm Leigh Day is separately bringing a group claim on behalf of fans against Uefa on the basis that they "failed to ensure a safe and secure environment for those attending and could owe a legal liability to those who suffered physical and/or psychological injuries".
Clare Campbell and Jill Paterson, partners at Leigh Day, said that Uefa "needs to take responsibility for the significant part it played in the chaos that unfolded at last season's Champions League final and recompensate the fans who have had to deal with the after effects."
They added: "This is about accountability, learning lessons for the future and ensuring that fans who have been injured and traumatised receive proper compensation for what they've endured."