Uefa apologises to Rangers fans left without water at Europa League final

Uefa has apologised to Rangers fans who attended Wednesday's Europa League final in Seville after they were left without drinking water in 30C heat.

European football's governing body said the food and drink kiosks could not meet the "extraordinary demand" from fans at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

About 20,000 Rangers fans attended the match in the Spanish city.

Many resorted to drinking water from taps in the toilets as the temperatures soared inside the ground.

However, these also stopped working for a while due to the high demand.

A statement from Spanish club Sevilla FC, who hosted the final, said demand for bottled water was triple what was expected for a normal match and they sold out.

The statement said: "The club tried to replenish the water at the bars, but the fans literally assaulted the employees who were in charge of replenishing before the bottles as they tried to reach the bars, then finally it was necessary to close them.

"Fans were able to drink drinking water from the taps in the toilets.

"The taps stopped working when all the taps in the stadium were opened at the same time, so the water pump could not serve all of them at the same time. After a few minutes the service was restored till the end of the match."

Rangers lost the game to German side Eintract Frankfurt on penalties.

A statement from Uefa said: "Even though the quantity of food and beverages planned by concessionaires was much bigger than what is usually served during a domestic sold out match at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, it still was not enough to meet the extraordinary demand of the day and Uefa wishes to sincerely apologise to fans for the inconvenience created."

Rangers vice-chairman John Bennett had expressed pride in the supporters who travelled to Spain, saying they had "wowed" the Spanish police and authorities.

Police confirmed on Thursday that no Rangers supporters were arrested in Seville after estimating that 100,000 had made their way to the Andalusian capital.

Six Germans were arrested ahead of the final, most of them for being allegedly part of a large group of Eintracht Frankfurt fans who went looking for clashes with Rangers supporters.

Some footage emerged of Frankfurt fans attacking Scottish fans outside a bar with chairs and bottles thrown but the final itself passed without incident.

Former BBC Scotland presenter Catriona Shearer describes her experience in the stadium.

I had a small bottle of water taken from me, and there were reports of others having their phone chargers taken from them - which, when you need the ticket, which is on the app, you need your phone battery.

When we got inside the stadium obviously it was really warm, it was intense heat, and there was not one kiosk open in the section where I was sitting. So there was no opportunity to get water, no access to water, and this wasn't just Rangers fans - I was in a neutral section. In fact the body that represents German football fans has also been complaining about this.

In a stadium like that for a top European football event, the facilities were less than adequate. We had to find a plastic cup and take it into the toilets, turn the taps on and drink the water.

I didn't see stadium officials, which is incredible for a game of that magnitude. I didn't see a steward, there were a handful of police around our section but they didn't seem to have the personnel or the provisions in place to accommodate this event in a successful and satisfactory way.

There was no-one to ask for help, and in fact there were a few people in our section who passed out, probably because of dehydration or heat stroke or whatever. Even then it was the police who had to come deal with that.

It was a 40-minute walk to the stadium. Some people, particularly older people, had a really long walk in an unfamiliar environment, and then to not have access to anything to eat or drink was unbelievable.