The organization of the most anticipated match of the season turned into chaos last night in Saint-Denis. Public authorities target Liverpool fans who came with fake tickets. The English club calls for an investigation
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The golden match of European football tarnished by counterfeit tickets? The Champions League final, won on Saturday by Real Madrid (1-0), was marked by scenes of chaos around the Stade de France due to thousands of spectators with counterfeit tickets, according to UEFA.
It is a rare decision, if not unprecedented, in the history of the prestigious Champions League: the kick-off of the most important match of the year, watched around the world, was delayed by more than thirty minutes .
In the greatest confusion, the players of Real Madrid and Liverpool had to return to the locker rooms when the kick-off was scheduled for 9:00 p.m., while spectators and journalists wondered about the reasons for this delay.
Outside the stadium, long queues, thousands of spectators shouting their anger and others trying to climb the gates surrounding the enclosure, and for some managing to enter without a ticket. And finally, the intervention of the police who had to use tear gas to disperse hundreds of supporters.
It took a few minutes before the final whistle to understand the reasons for this chaos, via a press release from UEFA.
“As the match approached, the turnstiles (to enter the Stade de France) on the side of the stands reserved for Liverpool were blocked by thousands of spectators who bought fake tickets which did not work”explained the European body.
Investigation requested by Liverpool
“This created a backlog of spectators trying to get into the stadium and as a result kick-off had to be delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many spectators with valid tickets to enter the stadium as possible.”continues the press release.
“As the number of people outside the stadium continued to increase after kick-off, the police had to use tear gas to disperse them”explained UEFA, which specified that it would proceed “urgently” to an audit of what happened with the police and the French authorities, as well as with the French Football Federation (FFF).
For its part, the Liverpool club has requested the opening of an investigation.
“We are extremely disappointed with the access issues and breaches of the security perimeter that Liverpool supporters have suffered.”explained the English club in a press release.
“This is the biggest game in European football and fans shouldn’t have to experience the kind of scene we witnessed tonight (Saturday). We have officially requested an investigation to determine the causes of these unacceptable issues. “he regretted.
The 2022 Champions League final was originally scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg, before its organization was withdrawn to the city following the invasion of Ukraine.
Tweet de Darmanin
She was repatriated to Paris which had to manage the influx of 60,000 Liverpool supporters in particular, while a contingent of 20,000 tickets was allocated to supporters of the “Reds”, as well as those of Real.
A police source told AFP that the French authorities had from the start warned of the difficulty of managing several thousand supporters without tickets.
“There were jostling, crowd movements, we provided responses in terms of security (…) We have reinforced security inside the stadium”, underlines this source. Another police source estimated for his part that it was “a bit easy” to criticize the police, while the latter pointed out from the start the difficulty of channeling so many supporters without a ticket.
The Paris police headquarters confirmed in a press release that before the meeting “many supporters without tickets for the match or holders of counterfeit tickets disrupted access to the Stade de France, at the level of the external security perimeter”.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin pointed out in a tweet the attitude “thousands of British ‘supporters’ without tickets or with counterfeit tickets who forced entry” of the Stade de France.
With @AOC1978, at the Stade de France security headquarters. Thousands of British “supporters”, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted the stewards. Thank you to the very many police forces mobilized this evening in this difficult context. pic.twitter.com/gEXCqPhWmZ
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) May 28, 2022
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Sixty-eight people were arrested and 39 placed in police custody last night in Paris, the Interior Ministry said.
The aftermath of this final like no other will be sad in Liverpool, but perhaps also tense between London and Paris.
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