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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

French government spin web of Liverpool lies that city and club will not take lying down

And still the slurs from the French government continue to rain down on Liverpool FC and its supporters.

The 'narrative' that was so quickly shaped from the claim that Saturday's Champions League final delay was down to the "late arrival of fans" has only been moulded further in the way that those in France power have seen fit. Or, at least, that has been their aim. It is something which isn't sticking and for very good reason. Their claims are angrily disputed by all in Merseyside and many more far beyond.

First up in front of the French senate on Wednesday was Gerald Darmanin, the nation's interior minister, whose name, title and face was likely unknown to about 95% of Liverpool supporters prior to the scandalous accusations he has thrown about with wild abandon since Monday.

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Mr Darmanin claimed earlier this week the root cause of the chaos that ensued at the Stade de France on Saturday night was down to '30 to 40,000 fake tickets' that were apparently in circulation at the stadium.

Mr Darmanin quietly rowed back, quite significantly as it goes, on Wednesday afternoon, telling the senate that "2589 fake tickets were scanned" - a figure that is quite the step down from the eye-watering and bizarre total made just two days ago.

"Thousands of British 'supporters', without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted the stewards." claimed Darmanin on social media earlier this week. "Thank you to the very many police forces mobilized this evening in this difficult context."

That alone was a horrendous statement that hundreds of eye-witness accounts, including those from the ECHO who were at the game, can reject with confidence. But the French minister was not done there as he scrambled to gain a foothold.

On Wednesday it was also suggested that the only trouble seen around the Saint-Denis stadium at the weekend was at Liverpool's end. "The problems only happened in front of the Liverpool turnstiles," he claimed. That statement had already been refuted by shocking video footage by Spanish TV station El Chinguirito - among other Spanish publications - whose hard-hitting images from the night were a tough watch for supporters of both historic clubs.

The real humdinger was still to come, however, from French sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, whose own testimony is reported to have carried the remark: "The time we had to prepare for this final was short. We only knew the identity of the finalists on May 4, especially Liverpool with the very specific risk their fans present to us."

Ms Oudea-Castera has only been in her post less than a fortnight. It has been the most inauspicious of beginnings for the former tennis player.

For so many, her comments brought up sickening memories of April 1989 and the fallout from the Hillsborough disaster that not only took 97 lives but also changed the course, the calling and the singular iron-wrought purpose of so many others; those who have inspired an entire city with their strength and courage to fight for their loved ones.

But it seems the French government's base-level knowledge of football supporters on Merseyside is as dated as their attitudes towards them because Liverpool is one city who simply won't take these outrageous claims lying down.

Nor will those in the corridors of power at Anfield themselves, who are all understandably furious with how their fanbase have been treated on a night that has left so many contemplating whether they will ever even travel abroad to watch their football team again.

As club officials, former players and the journalists who were on the ground on Saturday night continue to rail against the claims of the French authorities, the Liverpool supporters caught up in the maelstrom of a Paris government looking to save their own skin attempting to find a faceless culprit to pin their failings on at least know they are not walking alone here.

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