Champions League final: Fans spend 40 hours in flight to watch 90 minutes of football

It is a ritual that's repeated every year at the very end of May. The minutiae are always the same: Anticipation and mass hysteria in the build-up, analysis and ecstasy or heartbreak at the end. UEFA, the press and the 'stakeholders' drive the narrative. It's about that one all-consuming match, the ultimate centre piece, the Champions League final.

This year that mass hysteria has been taken to a new level: Liverpool will play the European Cup final on Saturday in the Ukrainian capital against Real Madrid, the kings of the continental game, and from across the globe the club's fans have set their minds on 90 minutes of utter delirium in Kiev. There is, however, a complication: The host city is not easy to reach. In fact, it's rapidly become a nightmare destination.

"I gambled and booked my flight and accommodation before Liverpool had secured their spot in the final," says Lars Frosland, a fan from Norway. "However, the hotel prices were insane at that time too, so I went for Airbnb to a fraction of the cost. The craziest or most emotional thing was waiting for ticket ballot details."

Liverpool were allocated 16,626 tickets by UEFA for the final, prices ranging from £61 to £394. On Ticketbis, tickets were offered up to a staggering £14,000. Liverpool fans also faced soaring airfares and inflated hotel rates, with return flights to the Ukraine easily costing more than £1,000.

Still, they plotted their way to Kiev. They slogged their way around the continent, by airplane, by bus, by train, by car. "Our flight was diverted to Rome," says Arjun Gupta, a Liverpool fan from India. "The visa on arrival in Kiev took five and a half hours to process after which we found out that our luggage was still in Rome. We left New Delhi on Tuesday at 10pm. We stayed inside airports and flights for 40 hours straight without seeing the outside world. For two hours of football. Madness."

Fans happily fork out money to attend the climax of the European club season. UEFA considers supporters as 'fan customers'. That corporatism, a worldview envisages a different fandom: A middle class of lawyers, doctors and architects and their families, who go to the ground to enjoy a day out, but who are, in general, not emotionally invested in the game. Liverpool fans are different: Football matters for them and triggers deep emotions.

"UEFA should definitely consider logistics and infrastructure more," argues Frosland. "The city must be able to handle intense flight traffic and 100,000 visitors. Are there enough hotels? Will the airport handle the flight traffic? I am in favour of not going for Paris, London, Berlin every year, but UEFA must make sure the final city is convenient for supporters."

Behind closed doors, UEFA has discussed taking the final outside of Europe - to New York, to the Gulf. UEFA president Alexander Ceferin repeated on Thursday that it is a 'theoretical possibility'. The idea is very marketable - and the fans will repeat the ritual, but perhaps it will all feel a little more hollow.