The French sports minister maintained that crowd problems at the Champions League final were caused by Liverpool fans "without tickets, or with fake tickets".
Real Madrid 's 1-0 win over Liverpool at the Stade de France on Saturday night was overshadowed by the chaotic and dangerous scenes surrounding the match. Liverpool supporters struggled to get into the stadium due to poor organisation and treatment by French police, although UEFA initially blamed “the late arrival of fans” for the match’s delayed start.
Fans were tear gassed and attacked by riot police in Paris as bottle-necks on the route to the stadium caused widespread panic. After the match, Liverpool issued a statement expressing disappointment with the handling of the event and demanded a formal investigation into what went wrong.
The UK government has backed up Liverpool’s version of events, which has been corroborated by supporters and journalists who were on the ground that night. However, that has been disputed by the French authorities, with the country’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin tweeting: “Thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and assaulted stewards. Thank you to the many police forces mobilised this evening in this difficult situation.”
Darmanin’s claims have been heavily criticised from all angles for presenting a distorted picture of what happened and for blaming the victims of the chaos. Yet, speaking on Monday, France’s sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera has doubled down on the claims.
"What happened, first of all, was this mass gathering of the British supporters of the Liverpool club, without tickets, or with fake tickets," Oudea-Castera told French radio station RTL. “When there are that many people by the entrance to the stadium, there will be people trying to force their way in through the doors,” adding that “certain number of youths from the nearby area who were present tried to get in by mixing in with the crowd”.
Oudea-Castera said there were “between 30,000 and 40,000” Liverpool fans without valid tickets in Paris. She added: “The fact that the Real Madrid club has supervised the coming of its supporters to Paris to such an extent, by scheduling buses from the airport and organising everything from start to finish, which contrasted sharply with what the Liverpool club did, letting its supporters out in the wild, made a huge difference.”
Oudea-Castera is meeting with officials from the government, sports ministry, the police, UEFA, the French football federation and the stadium management for a meeting on Monday.
Liverpool’s chief executive, Billy Hogan, described the treatment of Liverpool fans as “unacceptable” and said the club wanted a “transparent investigation” into what happened. UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said on Sunday: "The footage and accounts from Liverpool fans and the media on their entry to the Stade de France last night are deeply concerning. Thousands of ticket holders travelled to Paris in good time to support their team in the biggest match of their season.
"I urge UEFA to launch a formal investigation into what went wrong and why, in coordination with stadium staff, the French Police, Federation Française de Football, Merseyside Police and Liverpool Football Club. It is in the interests of everyone involved to understand what happened and to learn lessons from these events."
