Jake Humphrey has issued an apology to Liverpool supporters on behalf of BT Sport following their coverage of the Champions League final in Paris last May.
Real Madrid's narrow 1-0 victory over Liverpool was marred by the distressing scenes outside of the Stade de France pre-match, as fans - including young children - were subject to tear gas and pepper spray by French police, with kick-off delayed by 37 minutes due to ticketing issues.
An independent report has since put responsibility on UEFA for the incident, ending false narratives that Liverpool fans were to blame. BT Sport covered the match live from Paris and were criticised for their coverage, with Manchester United legend and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville taking aim at the broadcaster.
As the two teams met again on Tuesday for a round-of-16 first-leg tie, BT Sport said in a statement: "We are hugely regretful that we were reading out those false statements, the only statements shared on the screens inside the stadium. It was a completely false narrative."
Lead presenter Humphrey, who once again led the coverage on BT, added live from Anfield at the top of their show: "I just want to say sorry to all the people involved in this football club, the stress was added to you because of us sharing that information, which we now know to be completely false.
"The truth is that those football fans that were being accused were out there saving the lives of other football fans, including our family members and our friends... If lessons aren't learned, then next time that this happens there could be even more of a tragedy than we saw on that night in Paris.
"So let's hope those lessons are taken on board, absolutely. It can't be repeated enough: Liverpool fans [are] absolutely not to blame for what happened that night, despite the initial messaging that came from the governing body (UEFA)."
Neville's criticism came as the events were unfolding in Paris on the night of May 28 last year, tweeting: "Surprised BT sport don't have a team on standby outside of stadium, getting little to no sense of the major story from the broadcaster. The former United captain also remarked: "Are you surprised? I'm not. They can't react or aren't agile to things like this happening."
Neville continued to hit out at the lack of coverage by retweeting and liking a number of other scathing messages. He shared and liked one tweet which read: "Fair to say BT Sport and their lightweight team are totally unsuited to covering an event like this still chatting football 5Live covering what is happening properly."
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Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was part of BT's coverage on Tuesday and has called for UEFA to be "held accountable" over the incident. "I think that [independent report was very welcome in this stadium and amongst every Liverpool fan because it's not good enough," Gerrard insisted. "I think the treatment on the night was a disgrace. I think it's the only time as a pundit I've never really enjoyed it. We didn't have no signal inside the ground, no internet connection.
"We were getting the wrong information fed to us and there was a lot of confusion. You have family and friends that are outside the stadium and the treatment was a disgrace, basically. Thankfully, the independent investigations have come clear and there's no blame for Liverpool fans, which is important."
