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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Liverpool issue response to Champions League final chaos after UEFA launch investigation

Tom Werner has written a letter to French sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Costera, calling for an apology to the Liverpool supporters subjected to heavy-handed treatment from riot police at the Champions League final.

And the Reds' CEO, Billy Hogan, labelled comments made by the French politician on Monday about fans being let "out in the wild" outside the Stade de France as "completely inappropriate".

Thousands of supporters were left stuck outside the stadium on Saturday night as Jurgen Klopp's players prepared to face Real Madrid in the Champions League showpiece. The Reds lost 1-0 on the night, but it's the fallout from the shocking treatment of football followers outside the stadium that has dominated the agenda.

READ MORE: UEFA commission independent report into chaos at Champions League Final

READ MORE: Liverpool FC issue request to all fans who went to Champions League final

Kick-off was delayed for 36 minutes as a result of the problems as reports piled on from outside the ground of supporters being indiscriminately sprayed with tear gas by riot police and attacked by locals from Saint-Denis.

On Monday, authorities in France blamed "large scale industrial fraud" and fake tickets for the issues on the night, an explanation that is vehemently opposed by both Liverpool officials and supporters in Paris over the weekend.

UEFA has now commissioned an independent report into the mayhem that left many fearing for their safety and Liverpool chief Hogan has criticised the governing bodies for their inaction and response to the incidents.

"It has been good to hear that others are also calling for a truly independent and transparent investigation into the organisation of the final in Paris," he told the club's official website.

"We have followed up on our request for an independent investigation with UEFA in writing. We’ve also noted our deep concern about the false information that’s being circulated, while really urging UEFA to agree to an open and transparent investigation into everything that happened on Saturday night, and we will continue to push for this.

"I’ve also read this afternoon in the media that there was a meeting this morning with French authorities and UEFA and a number of other stakeholders; however, we were not asked for our input or to submit any information ahead of the meeting, so we were getting the output of that meeting like everyone else: through the media.

"Finally, we are also reviewing legal avenues available to us on behalf of affected supporters. So, in summary, a lot of activity, a lot of engagement with many stakeholders since Saturday night and we’ll continue to push for an independent investigation as quickly as possible. In our mind, what that means is an independent panel of experts to conduct that review."

Mr Hogan added: "I would just say we are incredibly surprised that someone in that position would make comments in the first place at this point, when we haven’t had adequate time to understand what happened.

"There hasn’t been an independent investigation to establish all the facts. And as we said on Saturday, there needs to be that independent, transparent investigation into what happened at the match. That’s the start of the process.

"So to be making comments at this stage, prior to any investigation being launched, is completely inappropriate. We should know all the facts to make sure that the scenes that we’ve all seen – absolutely disgraceful – from Saturday don’t ever happen again.

"Making comments as deeply unhelpful as that, we just feel that everyone should be focused on getting the investigation right and less about making inflammatory comments that attempt to deflect responsibility for what happened on Saturday night.

"What I would say is that our fans were provided the UEFA information to travel to the stadium safely, which they did; they approached the stadium as directed and in good time. However, it was on arrival at the stadium when they experienced the issues.

"In regard to the comments, we were in complete disbelief when we were made aware of them earlier today. I think it’s important that folks know that our chairman, Tom Werner, sent a letter to the French minister to articulate our views and is calling for an apology to our fans for those comments."

The wife of midfielder Thiago Alcantara posted on Instagram about her fears on the night in France, while the brother of defender Joel Matip was also caught up in the chaos.

Former defender Jason McAteer tweeted about his son being attacked and his wife being mugged outside the ground, while legendary striker Robbie Fowler spent much of his evening attempting to help his son and brother into the stadium. It's also been reported club owner Mike Gordon was caught up in the disorganised mess.

Mr Hogan added: "The videos and the photographs tell a consistent story: the unacceptable treatment of men, women and children which was, again, completely unacceptable.

"Also, to say our fans didn’t turn up on time is crazy. My colleagues across the club, our ownership and I, we all saw it with our own eyes; we were outside the ground, on the ground, in those crowds and from everything I saw, our fans arrived early and they were queuing as directed by authorities.

"I spoke yesterday about an online form that we would be putting out for fans to send in their experiences and photographs and videos from Saturday. This has gone live this afternoon across our website and social channels, and I would really call on all fans, media and others who were in Paris for the match to use this form and tell us about their experience.

"There’s an opportunity in the form for people to put up to five photos and if you have video there’s an opportunity to do that as well throughout this process. All of the information is going to be treated securely and respectfully within the club.

"It’s vitally important that we get all this information into one place so it can be used in an investigation in the proper way, so I really encourage people to use that online form if they can.

"As we’ve seen over the course of the last not even quite 48 hours yet, the stories coming out of what happened at the match were just completely unacceptable.

"I’ve read many of them and I’ve seen many of the videos and the photos; my colleagues across the club have seen them as well. Most of these are pretty harrowing so I would ask people to just keep talking about the experience to friends and family; it’s important that people have the chance to unload that and talk to loved ones about it.

"Honestly, I’ve heard from a number of people who said what was supposed to be one of the best nights of their lives was one of the worst. That’s just incredibly sad and disappointing and it has to be addressed.

"Our goal is to ensure that the proper steps are taken to be sure something like this doesn’t happen again – to our fans or to any fans of any team or club."

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