Liverpool have issued a lengthy statement in response to an independent UEFA report which investigated the traumatic events of last year's Champions League final.
A number of Reds fans who made the trip to Paris on May 28 for their side's narrow 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid, including children, were subject to tear gas and pepper spray by French police outside of the Stade de France. Kick-off was delayed by 37 minutes as thousands of supporters were unable to enter the stadium, which UEFA and France's sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, attempted to blame on ticketless fans.
The report, which was leaked shortly before its official publication on Monday evening, assigns UEFA with "primary responsibility." An independent panel damningly concluded, after eight months of gathering evidence, that the European football governing body's organisational failures, coupled with lack of a venue risk assessment by French authorities, "almost led to a disaster."
