Liverpool fans who attended the Champions League final in Paris have reported that their match tickets were 'bitten' by stewards at the Stade de France.
The final in Paris at the end of May descended into chaos as thousands of Liverpool fans were forced into dangerous crushes as they tried to get into the stadium. Many Reds fans were then attacked and robbed by criminal gangs after the match.
Fans were left angrier at shameless attempts to blame them by French authorities and UEFA. French ministers have been widely castigated for the lies and smears they have attempted to spread about Reds fans. One such comment came from Interior Minister Gerald Darminan, when he claimed that there were 40,000 LFC fans that turned up to the stadium with fake tickets.
READ MORE: C hampions League final inquiry shows no evidence of 40,000 ticketless fans
These claims have been widely disputed by Liverpool fans, journalists and French politicians who are currently investigating the events around the match in a Senate hearing. Ministers have backed down from the 40,000 number and suggested that the amount of fake tickets scanned at the match was around 2,500 - with just over 1,600 in the Liverpool end.
Reds fans have continued to speak out about their experiences and their treatment in Paris. Some have spoken about some bizarre moments as they tried to use their tickets to get into the ground.
Daily Mail journalist Rob Draper, who was present at the game, took to Twitter to urge Liverpool fans whose legitimate tickets were either rejected by scanners or took several attempts to scan, to retain them as evidence against the claims being made by the French government.
A number of Reds fans said that their match tickets had not been scanned, but the top of them had been bitten off by stewards at the ground. LFC supporter Franny posted a picture of his torn up ticket and said: "My ticket wasn’t scanned, it was simply taken from me by the steward who put it in his mouth and bit the top of it off as if he could taste how legit it was. I’m actually not joking."
Multiple other fans spoke of similar experiences, all posting pictures of their ripped up tickets. Nicholas Elson said: "Me too mate. Same thing. Think the turnstiles stopped working so he ripped it off with his teeth. Ended up going to C because Z was that bad."
Another Twitter user posted a similar picture, adding: "Same for me, he bit the QR code off and told me to go under the turnstile." Todd Waugh added: "Exact same for me and my dad's."
These latest reports will only add to the pressure on French authorities, whose accounts are looking more thin by the day. UEFA has already apologised to fans who attended the game, with a full investigation under way.
On Friday the French Football Federation (FFF) revealed that all CCTV footage from outside the stadium at the time of the match had been deleted. Erwan Le Prevost is the director of international relations at the FFF, and was quoted as saying: “The images are available for seven days. They are then automatically destroyed. We should have had a requisition to provide them to the different populations, the images are extremely violent."
The news sparked further outrage amongst Liverpool fans and others who pointed out the footage could have been used to disprove the narrative being pushed out by French authorities.
On Friday, the results of a damning report into the Champions League Final in Paris has found "systematic failings in the organisation". The Prime Minister of France commissioned a report into the treatment of fans in the build up and aftermath of the Paris Final after Liverpool fans were tear-gassed and pushed into bottlenecks by French Police. The author of the 30-page report, Michel Cadot, said the claims of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, that as many as 40,000 Liverpool fans were to blame for the chaos should be "relativised".
Evidence also suggested it was a breakdown in communication between authorities, and the failure to recognise “serious failings” in the kettling of fans and at malfunctioning entry gates, which caused the horrendous scenes.
