On Monday, France’s sports minister indicated that Liverpool supporters who did not have legal tickets were to blame for the first crowd difficulties at the Champions League final, which were worsened by local teenagers attempting to push their way in.
Some French far-right politicians, such as Eric Zemmour, claimed that local youngsters from the adjacent Seine Saint-Denis Paris area were mostly responsible for the crowd unrest at Saturday’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
“What we really have to remember is that what occurred first and foremost was this vast assembly of British Liverpool fans without tickets, or with false tickets,” said French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera.
“When there are so many people at the stadium entrance, many will try to force their way in via the doors of the Stade de France,” she told French radio RTL. “A certain number of adolescents from the neighboring region who were there tried to sneak in by mingling in with the throng.”
After police attempted to detain persons trying to force their way into the French national stadium without tickets, the match was delayed for 35 minutes, and several ticket holders claimed that they were not let in. Read the whole article here.
Images on television showed young males, who did not seem to be wearing red Liverpool shirts, leaping the stadium’s gates and fleeing. According to a Reuters witness, riot police used tear gas on others outside, including youngsters.
Britain’s technology minister, Chris Philp, expressed his horror at the photographs.
“I was appalled to see those photographs of people getting pepper sprayed by French police, especially youngsters and handicapped fans,” he continued. “And there was no evident reason for that type of behavior based on the photographs I saw.”
The tumultuous events at France’s national stadium were dubbed a national humiliation, as the country prepares to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and the Olympic Games in 2024. Read the whole article here.
Liverpool Chief Executive Billy Hogan said the club’s handling of supporters was “unacceptable” and that the regulatory body Uefa should conduct a “transparent inquiry.”
Nadine Dorries, the British minister for sport, has also pushed Uefa to initiate an inquiry.
At Saturday’s match, French minister Oudea-Castera declared there were “no difficulties” with Real Madrid fans, adding that the Spanish team had managed to regulate its traveling followers better than Liverpool.