PARIS: Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has demanded an apology over the treatment of the club’s fans after the French government blamed “massive” ticket fraud for the chaotic scenes that marred Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris.
The demand came as UEFA and the French football federation (FFF), at a crisis meeting on Monday at the French sports ministry, estimated that 2,800 fake tickets were scanned at the final, according to a source.
The FFF weighed in further on Tuesday, releasing a statement saying that 35,000 people without tickets or with false tickets had descended on the Stade de France for the final.
Having deployed 1,650 security and ticketing staff, 25% higher than a sold-out home France match, the FFF said that 110,000 people went to the stadium “based on information collected from various public and private operators”.
The FFF concluded that around the stadium, there were “35,000 extra people in possession of counterfeit tickets or without tickets” and they “caused public disorder by blocking the gates to the stadium and preventing some holders of real tickets from entering before the kick-off of the match scheduled for 9.00pm”.
The French government has faced a barrage of criticism over policing of the match, which saw thousands of Liverpool fans with tickets struggle to enter the Stade de France.
Tear gas and pepper spray
Kick-off to the match, which Real Madrid won 1-0, was delayed by 36 minutes to allow supporters extra time to access the stadium after being funnelled into overcrowded corridors and hit with tear gas and pepper spray from police.
Werner, part of the US-based Fenway Sports Group that owns Liverpool, said in a leaked letter sent to French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera on Monday that he was left in “utter disbelief” at her comments about the chaos.
Oudea-Castera initially blamed Liverpool for helping to cause the mayhem, telling a French radio station that the club failed to properly organise its supporters who went to Paris.
After the crisis meeting at the sports ministry on Monday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin defiantly insisted that ticket scams and the behaviour of Liverpool fans was to blame.
“I am writing to you today out of utter disbelief that a minister of the French government... could make a series of unproven pronouncements on a matter of such significance before a proper, formal, independent investigation process has even taken place,“ Werner wrote in his letter, leaked to the local Liverpool Echo newspaper.
“Your comments were irresponsible, unprofessional, and wholly disrespectful to the thousands of fans harmed physically and emotionally,“ the Boston-based chairman added.
“On behalf of all the fans who experienced this nightmare I demand an apology from you, and assurance that the French Authorities and UEFA allow an independent and transparent investigation to proceed.”
Oudea-Castera later said she had not yet received any correspondence from Liverpool, but offered up a partial apology.
“We had Liverpool fans who were all above board, whose evening was ruined with some even unable to watch the match,“ she said.
“There, we clearly owe them an apology.” - AFP
