Hillsborough: Global reaction to stadium tragedy verdict

CNN’s documentary “Hillsborough: They’ll Never Walk Alone” will screen on Wed April 27 at 1900 GMT and Thu April 28 at 1100 GMT.

The Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989 was a tragedy that transcended sport.

After years of questions, the long fight for truth has finally been won, prompting social media reaction from across the football world.

Leading the tributes was Liverpool Football Club, which saw 96 of its fans unlawfully killed during an FA Cup semifinal.

Read: Jury delivers verdict in Hillsborough inquest

Jamie Carragher, who played for Liverpool for 17 years, conveyed the relief felt by a city and a football club.

Read: Mom ‘denied final cuddle with dead son’

Wayne Rooney, who plays for Manchester United but hails from the Merseyside area, commended the determination of the bereaved. The England captain began his career with Liverpool’s city rivals Everton.

Read: Criminal prosecutions could follow Hillsborough verdict

For many, the relief that a verdict has finally been reached is tinged by frustration that the truth took so long to come out. Former Manchester City star Joey Barton was born just three miles from Rooney.

John Arne Riise and Luis Garcia are from far further afield, Norway and Spain respectively, but their affection for Liverpool runs deep. Both played for the club when it lifted the Champions League in 2005 and expressed similar sentiments to Carragher, their teammate on that day.

John Aldridge was Liverpool’s top scorer in the 1988-89 campaign and was a key part of the team at the time of the tragedy. He describes how emotional it was to see the “reaction of the families outside the court.”

Across the city, Liverpool’s rivals Everton posted a message of solidarity. The teams’ two stadiums are separated by Stanley Park.

Tim Cahill, a hero among Everton fans having spent eight years at club, also offered his support and condolences.

Despite an agonizing 4-3 defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the Europa League just 12 days ago, German club Borussia Dortmund gave its support with the simple message: “Justice for the 96.”

And the verdict resonated beyond sport. British Prime Minster David Cameron called the resolution of the Hillsborough inquest a “landmark day.”

Fondly remembered in Liverpool for a successful spell as the team’s manager between 2004 and 2010, Rafa Benitez hopes the inquiry’s scrutiny of past mistakes will prevent such a disaster occuring in future.

More accustomed to telling jokes, Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop offered a sombre thought.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died during the FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989.

The game was stopped at six minutes past three. Moments before the players were taken off the pitch, fans had begun climbing over fences behind Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar's goal to escape the crush.

People used advertising boards as makeshift stretchers to help the victims of the disaster.

In the immediate aftermath, people from throughout Britain left tributes at Liverpool's Anfield stadium.

A Liverpool supporter pays his respects outside Anfield in September 2012, weeks before Britain's police watchdog said it would launch the biggest-ever independent inquiry into potential police wrongdoing after a damning report on the disaster.

Tributes are left at Anfield's Bill Shankly gates in 2012, soon after the Hillsborough Independent Panel had revealed its findings.

A man walks past "Justice for the 96" graffiti near Anfield soon after the High Court quashed verdicts of accidental death on December 19, 2012. New inquests into the disaster were ordered.

Floral tributes are left at Anfield on each anniversary of the tragedy.

A poster protesting about the way in which Liverpool fans were blamed for Hillsborough is displayed outside Anfield in 2012. The club's supporters boycotted, and continue to boycott, "The Sun" newspaper due to its coverage of the deaths. In the aftermath of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report that year, the paper issued an apology for what it said were "false reports."

Floral tributes are laid in memory of the victims on the 25th anniversary of Hillsborough, prior to a Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on April 13, 2014.

A young Liverpool fan stands next to floral tributes laid in memory of the victims on the 25th anniversary.

The young fan wears a shirt calling for justice for the 96 victims.

The Liverpool players link arms as they join a silence for the victims in 2014.

Fans in the Kop stand at Anfield display banners in memory of the Hillsborough victims.

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign was set up to support those affected by the disaster, including the families of its victims and those who survived.

Fans, players and officials mark the Hillsborough anniversary before the Premier League match between Liverpool and Newcastle at Anfield in 2015.

The coroner's court set up to hear the inquests into the 96 Liverpool fans who died in Hillsborough is in Warrington, north-west England.

Donna Miller, the sister of victim Paul Carlile, arrives on the opening day of the new inquest into the Hillsborough deaths.

Mary Corrigan, whose son Keith McGrath died in the disaster, arrives at the inquest in Warrington.

Coroner Lord Justice Goldring (centre) walks outside the Leppings Lane stand at Hillsborough as jurors examine the scene of the disaster. The cones show the layout of the area outside the ground as it had been in 1989.

Hillsborough disaster: The inquest concludes

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