Blame for the distressing scenes experienced by Liverpool fans at the Champions League finals needs to be laid “where it belongs” after French ministers sought to double down on accusations that problems were caused by thousands of fans with fake tickets.
Speaking to French news channel France 24, West Derby MP Ian Byrne said that the events outside the Stade de France last Saturday - where fans were forced to wait for hours in a tight underpass, were pepper sprayed and also assaulted and robbed - were down to “ineptitude” and a “shambolic” set up by authorities, rather than the fault of fans.
His comments came after French interior minister Gerald Darmanin and sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra were questioned by the French senate yesterday afternoon about the events that took place around the Champions League Final. Mr Darmanin had previously claimed that as many as 40,000 ticketless fans had attempted to gain entry to the stadium, but reduced this figure to the region of 3,000 when speaking at the hearing yesterday.
