In pictures: A weekend of chaos in and around football stadiums in France

Supporters massed in front of the gates, free riders in shambles and muscular interventions by the police ... Relocated at short notice to Saint-Denis, the Champions League final Liverpool - Real Madrid (0-1) offered scenes of chaos on Saturday, suggesting dysfunctions in the organization of the event.

Repeated throwing of projectiles, smoke bombs, invasions of the pitch... The next day, AS Saint-Etienne supporters tarnished the image of French football a little more, at the end of the L1-L2 barrage lost against Auxerre.

The point, in pictures, on this chaotic weekend in the stadiums in France.

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• While the pre-match had been good-natured, the tension rose as the match approached, initially scheduled for 9 p.m., when huge queues formed near the Stade de France.

• Nearly 7,000 police, gendarmes and firefighters were mobilized on Saturday.

  Two security perimeters were deployed: a pre-filtering about 200 meters from the enclosure, then a second on the forecourt of the stadium, with turnstiles.

• A crowd referral problem accentuated the congestion.

  Coming preferably by RER D due to strikes affecting RER B, Liverpool supporters found themselves faced with only 4 pre-filter accesses, while there were a dozen accesses at the RER B exit.

• Then attempts at intrusion by people without a ticket undermined the system.

  Tear gas was launched to prevent a few dozen individuals, some of whom did not wear the colors of either club, from climbing the barriers.

• Some English fans, who came with their families, complained of being targeted after a wait of almost 3 hours.

• “I'm a teacher, I've never been sprayed with tear gas before.

  (...) The police pushed me against the door, it was not necessary.

  They behaved as if they had an army in front of them,” complained, in tears, Pete Blades, a 57-year-old French teacher in Liverpool.

• UEFA postponed kick-off by 36 minutes, the first in the recent history of the event. 

• UEFA denounced the influx of thousands of spectators with counterfeit tickets, which blocked the turnstiles and slowed access.

  Liverpool defender Andy Robertson reported after the game that someone close to him, to whom he offered a real ticket, was told that his ticket was fake.

  "It was very badly organized," castigated the Scotsman.

• Liverpool supporters and local officials were furious on Sunday against the organization of the Champions League final after thousands of fans were unable to enter the Stade de France and were violently pushed back by the police .

• The next day, at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, the relegation of Saint-Etienne on penalties against Auxerre (1-1 ap, 5 tab to 4) was accompanied by violent scenes.

• Invasion of the lawn by angry supporters of the Greens, then throwing of smoke bombs and general stampede.

  Some supporters used mortars and fired smoke bombs.

• In a gigantic crush, the players rushed into the locker room tunnel, the police entered the field in turn and threw tear gas to disperse the crowd, while movements of panic shook the stands.

• And the clashes continued outside the stadium, with a total of around forty minor injuries: 8 security guards, 14 police officers, 17 supporters and two Auxerre players, according to ASSE.

• We will nevertheless retain the sporting lessons at the end of these two matches: Real Madrid wins a fourteenth Champions League, AJ Auxerre returns to Ligue 1 after 10 years of purgatory, and AS Saint-Etienne is relegated to League 2.

• AS Saint-Etienne (ASSE)

• Auxerre, AJA

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