More than 2,000 tickets have been returned by Real Madrid fans ahead of the team’s UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool this Saturday.
The tickets have been returned due to travel issues surrounding the match in Kiev, Ukraine.
Spanish daily sports newspaper AS said that “logistical complications and inflated costs” had led to many supporters giving up the chance to see the game.
Real was given 12,800 tickets for the clash at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium. However, a lack of flights and sky-rocketing local accommodation prices have scuppered the plans of many fans.
For those Real fans who are not able to secure flights to Kiev, they face a 34-hour drive through France, Germany and Poland before reaching Ukraine.
A spokesperson for UEFA, football’s European governing body, told ESPN FC: “It is expected the preferred option for the majority of travelling fans will be charter flights arriving and leaving on the same day as the final.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told Italian newspaper La Stampa recently that Kiev does not have sufficient hotel capacity for such a high-profile match. Fans of both clubs have reported that some hotel bookings have been unexpectedly cancelled, with any rooms that are now available having prices of up to €2,000 ($2,352) per night.
Image: Rubén Vique
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