France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin has said that Jurgen Klopp is also to blame for the chaotic scenes that marred the Champions League final at the Stade de France on Saturday.
Darmanin accused Klopp after the Liverpool manager encouraged fans to travel to Paris, whether they had tickets or not.
Unpleasant scenes erupted outside the stadium prior to kick off after fans were made to wait in extremely long queues, French police then starting to spray tear gas at the peacefully waiting fans outside of the gates, including women and children.
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The blame was quickly shifted by French police onto the Liverpool fans, with Darmanin accusing the Liverpool fans of causing the disruption, he said that 70% of tickets sold were fakes, and that between 30,000 to 40,000 English fans were carrying the fake tickets.
Speaking ahead of the final, Klopp said: “I don't want to invite people to Paris but this time it is big enough.”
And this was picked up by Darmanin during his press conference at the French Ministry of Sport.
He said: “It is only in football with certain English clubs that there are these problems.”
“The presence of so many British fans without tickets already happened, notably in 2019 in Madrid. And it created similar types of difficulties. There were the same issues at Wembley last year [at the Euro 2020 final].”
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He continued: “The behaviour, the disorganisation and a huge market in fake tickets. And I remind you that the coach of Liverpool a few days ago called for fans to come to France even without tickets”
Darmanin made a claim that 40,000 fake tickets were in circulation amongst the Liverpool fans were the reason behind the trouble at the stadium.
But the head of the Football Supporters Europe association, Ronan Evain said the claim made by Darmanin is ‘completely fanciful.’ He said that a train strike that had affected one of the two lines leading to the stadium was the issue.
Liverpool player Andy Robertson said friends that he had given tickets to were sent away after the turnstiles failed to recognise their QR codes.
Liverpool have now asked any supporters who travelled to the final to complete a feedback form to support any investigation.
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “I urge UEFA to launch a formal investigation into what went wrong and why, in coordination with stadium staff, the French Police, Federation Francaise de Football, Merseyside Police and Liverpool Football Club.”
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“It is in the interests of everyone involved to understand what happened and to learn lessons from these events.”
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Champions League
Marcus Chan