70,000 Liverpool fans expected to flock to Madrid for the Champions League final

As many as 70,000 Liverpool supporters are expected to flock to Madrid for the Champions League final – despite the club only being allocated 17,000 seats.

Jurgen Klopp’s side’s miraculous comeback against Barcelona has sparked a furious scramble for flights, hotels and tickets for the showpiece fixture at Atletico Madrid’s 63,500-capacity Wanda Metropolitano.

Already, touting websites are charging north of £4,000 for seats the June 1 fixture. Travel experts say demand is ‘off-the-charts’ with a desperate race to be in the Spanish capital now on amongst followers of the Merseyside giants.

On Wednesday night the cheapest flights to Madrid from Manchester were coming up at more than £1,100 while a one-way direct flight from Liverpool with EasyJet was going for £750.

Some hostels in the host city are charging £300 a night while prices for hotel rooms have also rocketed.

Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram hit out at EasyJet, claiming that their pricing of flights was ‘shameful’, although the company said their pricing was determined by demand and not set artificially.

Jurgen Klopp’s team overturned a 3-0 first-leg loss to blast past Barcelona on Tuesday night

Merseyside Police will be sending a number of officers to the fixture and Sportsmail understands that initial planning has already taken place. They will liaise with their counterparts in Madrid and a number of spotters will fly to Spain in a bid to root out troublecausers.

Liverpool took an estimated 40,000 fans to Kiev for last year’s Champions League final.   

However, Madrid is a much more accessible destination and that figure is likely to be dwarfed this time following Tuesday night’s euphoria at Anfield.

The dramatic victory sparked a scramble for flights, hotels and tickets from Liverpool fans

Liverpool have approached events operator Thomas Cook Sport, who will be providing a number of flights to the lucky few who have tickets.

While there will be a Champions League Festival in Madrid, with a series of events at a number of locations, as of yet there are no plans for the match to be shown on a big screen. 

Fans of Klopp’s men have already scored a victory over opponents Spurs, with hundreds of flights from London to Madrid already snapped up. The cheapest direct flights from the capital to Madrid were already priced at £1,100 before Tottenham’s victory over Ajax.