Luzhniki disaster by "Izvestia" on 20 July. Some controversy in the media coverage of the Luzhniki football disaster is not unique. In 1989, three months before the "dark secret" article in "Sovetsky Sport", "The Sun" newspaper published a sensational article in the UK about the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people lost their lives. That article also contained strong allegations and cited unnamed sources. The sensational versions of the Luzhniki disaster proved to be much more popular with the media than the facts provided by the investigation. Despite its refutation in 1989, the figure of 340 fatalities or its variations ("more than
Hillsborough disaster a minute's silence also observed. During the final match of the 1988–89 English Football League season, contested on 26 May 1989 between Liverpool and second-place Arsenal, the Arsenal players presented flowers to fans in different parts of Anfield in memory of those who had died in the Hillsborough disaster. A disaster appeal fund was set up with donations of £500,000 from the Government, £100,000 from Liverpool F.C. and £25,000 each from the cities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Nottingham. Liverpool donated the share of the money they would have received for the game. Within days donations had passed £1 million, swelled