by Sudip Kar-Gupta
PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) – A Senate report on Wednesday revealed malfunctions in the organization of the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid last May, at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, resulting in scenes of chaos and sparking political tensions between Britain and France. The match started 36 minutes late due to incidents around the stadium and police said in a statement that many people tried to enter the stadium without tickets.
Dozens of fans, including women and children, were forced back by police with tear gas, and British fans, such as Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, have also reported robberies near the stadium in the northern suburbs of the French capital.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has always defended that a large number of Liverpool supporters showed up without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, but the Senate report also highlighted other failures, in particular concerning the safety device.
“The ticket office can in no way be considered the sole cause or the cause of the incidents,” said Senator Laurent Lafon during a press conference.
“There was an organizational deficit between the various actors involved,” added the senator, pointing to the insufficient coordination between the police, the stadium security services and the transport managers who were facing a strike the same day. .
According to Laurent Lafon, the malfunctions took place “at all stages of the event”.
Gérald Darmanin and French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra apologized in early June for a spoiled ‘sports party’ but maintained that many Liverpool supporters had arrived with fake tickets, which these have denied.
The British Prime Minister’s spokesman said at the time that Boris Johnson was extremely disappointed with the way Liverpool supporters had been treated in Paris.
The incidents have also tarnished France’s image as a host of major sporting events, with the country set to stage the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. (Report Sudip Kar-Gupta, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Kate Entringer)