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Champions League Final 2021: Uefa urged to prioritise fans over officials with Wembley move

 (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Uefa has been urged to prioritise fans over the "prawn sandwich" contingent of officials so the all-English Champions League Final can be hosted at Wembley.

The biggest game in European football remains scheduled to take play in Istanbul on May 29 but last week the Government's put Turkey on its high-risk 'red list' for international travel, effectively ruling out fans being in attendance.

Uefa are considering other options and held talks with Government officials on Monday though no agreement was reached, leading to Portugal now emerging as an alternative.

Standard Sport understands the UK’s failure to agree quarantine exemptions to media, staff and VIPs is proving a sticking point for Uefa.

Steve Brine, the Conservative MP for Winchester who sits on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, urged European football's governing body to put the interests of fans first.

"My understanding is (the disagreement) is not to do with having fans because we're doing that with various test events," he told talkSPORT.

"It's to do with the entourage of officials that Uefa insists comes along to the game. And you know what? We've all had to make sacrifices in the last year and we've missed things far more important than a game of football.

"So if the game goes ahead with the fans, and without some of the officials with their prawn sandwiches, well then, for a league (UEFA) that is interested in primarily the fans, that shouldn't be a big ask should it?"

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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