BERLIN (AP) — The Latest from the Champions League final:
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6:57 p.m.
Downtown, at the Brandenburg Gate that was on the dividing line between East and West Berlin during the Cold War, it is party time, with a capital ‘P.’
Fans of Juventus and Barcelona, the Champions League finalists, are filling the air with chants, bouncing up and down in unison, waving flags and quenching their thirst with beer on the German capital’s hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures into the high 20s Celsius (above 80 Fahrenheit.)
Many Barca fans have been letting their hair down at Breitscheidplatz in the west of Berlin, while Juve fans massed at Alexanderplatz in the east. One of them set off a flare, sending others scampering for safety. Police officers are patrolling in numbers around the city.
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6:45 p.m.
Sick of FIFA corruption? Itching for Sepp Blatter to make good on his promise to leave soccer’s governing body? In which case, let the football — not its sordid politics — take your mind off the unpleasantness for a few hours.
The Champions League final is two hours away. Thousands of sun-roasted but expectant fans are thronging at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin for the ultimate showcase of club football and are painting the town Juventus white and black and Barcelona red and blue.
As these pictures from our Associated Press photographers show, spirits are high: http://tinyurl.com/nprvnvu , http://tinyurl.com/n9mbn24
One quarter of the stadium looks like a copy of the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s stadium, with seats in the club’s colors and writing out its slogan: “Mes Que Un Club” — “More than a club.”
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