• Direct witness The inside story of the shameful chaos in Saint-Denis: "It's the French, not the English!"

French authorities on Monday blamed the chaos in access to the Champions League final on the "disorganization" that allowed tens of thousands of Liverpool fans without tickets to travel to Paris and the "massive fraud" of counterfeit tickets.

"We deplore the disorganization that saw 30,000 to 40,000 British fans without tickets or with counterfeit tickets arrive at the Stade de France," Interior Minister

Gérald Darmanin

stated .

In addition, "a massive fraud, on an industrial scale, of counterfeit tickets has been verified," Darmanin added in an appearance before the press after a meeting of more than two hours with the Minister of Sports,

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra

.

The head of the Interior recalled that the tickets were electronic but "at the request of UEFA" printed tickets were admitted, "which opened the possibility of fraud."

"More than 70% were false"

He explained that, in the area of ​​​​previous filtering of Liverpool fans, "more than 70% of the tickets were false", which ended up generating problems in the security system to the point that the intervention of the riot police was necessary.

He also said he "regrets" that fans, including families with children, suffered the consequences of tear gas, and acknowledged that he has seen videos of French police using gas "unnecessarily and disproportionately".

Darmanin recalled that the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid saw "the same problem" of tens of thousands of British fans traveling without incident.

Compensation to those affected

Just over 2,700 fans could not finally access the stadium despite having a ticket, reported Oudéa-Castéra, who advanced that there will be "compensation" for those affected, although without giving more details.

Both ministers stressed that these incidents occurred in the access areas for English fans.

"There has been no problem on the Spanish side," Darmanin said.

"The disorganization of the arrival of British fans by their club has complicated it," stressed the interior minister, who also partially blamed the strike, that precise day, on the commuter train line that leads to the stadium and which also connects the two Paris airports.

Another issue is that of the numerous groups of criminals that launched themselves in an organized way to try to rob the fans of both teams.

The authorities have arrested 77 people for these events in the town of Saint Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, where the stadium is located.

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