There are already numerous accounts, and footage, of French police using tear gas and pepper spray on Liverpool fans as they waited to enter the stadium, and reports of how the authorities directed large numbers of fans into narrow walkways.

There will be plenty more coming out about this in the next few days and weeks. But it is clear that, despite the distressing examples already seen of hapless fans being sprayed without obvious reason, this was a potential tragedy that did not turn into an actual one.

For which, much and many thanks.

If reports are to be believed - and knowing some of the reporters involved, I believe them - Liverpool and Real Madrid fans at one point worked together outside the stadium to form "a human shield" in resisting aggression from roaming local gangs.

That gave a particular resonance to the Liverpool anthem heard throughout the evening - You’ll Never Walk Alone.

During the official pre-match entertainment, which featured the Cuban-born American singer Camila Cabello, supporters in the stadium continued to chant and sing loudly. It was remarked upon by the singer herself yesterday in a tweet that was then deleted.

Olympic marketing expert Michael Payne, re-tweeting comment on this, mentioned how music and sport were rarely satisfactorily integrated on such big occasions.

Sports and esports business advisor Tim Crow said: "Bottom line, another very poor choice of act by UEFA and TEAM. It has to hit with the fans in the stadium. Only works if you get that right, and they only have twice in seven finals."

Judging by the tweeted footage there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the singing and dancing. The overall effect was colourful and professional.

But for many of the thousands who had managed to get themselves into the stadium at that point, safely or otherwise, it was a glitzy irrelevance - something for the TV, as the cut to overhead shots of the lit-up letters HOLA made very clear.

At such moments in big sporting events those who have actually gathered for them become a sideshow, at best marginal colour and applause, in the transaction between performers and worldwide TV audience.

Could another choice of singer or song have altered what happened? Could it have stilled the chanting? Probably not - but some songs strike deeper than others in the soul of the football fan.

And there is no better example than You’ll Never Walk Alone.

It was created for the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, which debuted on Broadway in 1945 - as per usual, melody by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Since when there have been countless cover versions. But the one made by Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers in October 1963, topping the UK charts for four weeks, was one of the most memorable.

Around that time Liverpool’s very local rivals Everton had adopted the Z Cars theme from the eponymous Liverpool-based TV police series.

Liverpool were connected with what would turn out to be their anthem during a pre-season tour of the United States in 1964, as they looked forward to making their debut in the European Cup as Football League champions.

The Pacemakers were also touring the US at that time, and their founder and singer Gerry Marsden - who died in January 2021 - is on record about how he took the chance of linking up with his team.

"We were doing The Ed Sullivan Show," Marsden explained. "So I said to Ed, 'The Liverpool team are here in New York, get them into the show.' He got the full team and [manager Bill] Shankly on stage for Walk Alone and when we finished it, Bill came up to me.

"He said, 'Gerry my son, I have given you a football team and you have given us a song'." Shankly would choose it as his eighth and final song on Desert Island Discs in 1965. By that time it had been well and truly chosen by the Kop.

In an article written about You’ll Never Walk Alone for The Independent in 2013, Simon Hart references music writer Paul Du Noyer, who described the effect of the song in his musical history Liverpool: Wondrous Place:

"The greatest quality of the song, I think, is the message of stoicism," Du Noyer said. "It is a song of perseverance and endurance."

It has been sung every year at the memorial service to those Liverpool supporters who died at Hillsborough in 1989.

Saturday night in Paris. There but for the grace of God.