When Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool, finally got to speak to the president of UEFA in Paris on Saturday night, he was most probably in a state of agitation.
He had not arrived at the Stade de France in a chauffeur-driven vehicle, or as part of a VIP entourage. He had been directed down a dead end blocked off by police riot vans, then told to climb over a fence to escape the crush.
As he did, thieves stole his mobile phone, his bank cards, his money and his match ticket. The police weren't interested.