BT Sport to screen Champions League and Europa League finals free on YouTube and TV

Liverpool fans not travelling to Switzerland for the Europa League final, will be able to watch the game on YouTube and on their televisions even if they are not BT Sport subscribers, after the broadcaster announced it will show both the Europa League and Champions League finals free-to-air.

In a statement released on Thursday (12 May), BT Sport said that both two showpiece games will be screened live and for free on Freeview channel 59, BT.com, BTSport.com or via the BT Sport YouTube channel.

"We've always said we wanted to give top quality sport back to the people and making the UEFA Champions League and Europa League finals free to everyone in the UK does this in a big way," said John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer.

"We're also bringing BT Sport to a new generation of younger sports fans who view their entertainment online, through social media and on their mobile devices. We plan to make these finals the most social sports broadcast ever, with lots of exciting content in the build-up and on the night across YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Vine."

Jurgen Klopp's men travel to Basel on 18 May to face holders Sevilla, who have won the tournament in the past two seasons to add to their triumph in the same competition in 2006 and 2007. Ten days later, at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid face each other in a Champions League final for the second time in three seasons. Diego Simeone's men will be hoping to secure a first European Cup success after losing 4-1 to their local rivals in 2014, despite leading 1-0 well into injury time.

BT, which in November 2013 secured a £897m three-year exclusive deal with Uefa to broadcast Champions League and Europa League games, has come under scrutiny for its coverage this season, with Uefa reportedly unhappy at the poor viewing figures.

On 6 April, Manchester City's first leg quarter-final draw away to Paris Saint-Germain attracted a peak audience of 1.1m viewers, a figure around five times smaller than that attracted by ITV for similar fixtures in the past.