Chairman of Liverpool writes to France’s sports minister - Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has sent a letter to France's sports minister, asking her to apologize for the chaos at the Stade de France ahead of Saturday's Champions League final. Liverpool is astonished by the management of access to the Stade de France for the Champions League final on Saturday and the club accepts even less, the communication of the French government and the police headquarters who have blamed the Reds.
Werner took the new minister's speech very badly on Monday on RTL in which she almost exclusively points the responsibility for the chaos on the club which left "its supporters in the wild", according to her. Remarks repeated later in the day during a press briefing held with Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior. Darmanin also blamed the English fans by evoking "a massive, industrial fraud of fake tickets" by maintaining the figure "from 30,000 to 40,000 supporters". A count widely questioned by many. He even attacked the liabilities of the Reds, while blaming Jürgen Klopp, coach, for having invited fans, even those without tickets, to go to France.
The events that took place in and around the Stade de France on Saturday evening during the UEFA Champions League final were not only incredibly dangerous for all involved, but also raised serious questions about the organization and functioning of the event. That should be the focus of all interested parties today rather than pursuing a blame strategy via a press conference.
Werner went on to say that he has received countless emails from frightened Liverpool fans who have been subjected to police harassment, pepper spray and tear gas. Moreover, the situation was no better at the end of the evening than at the beginning, with many fans robbed and attacked by gangs. He concluded that the UEFA Champions League final should be one of the greatest spectacles in world sport, and instead it turned into one of the worst security meltdowns ever.
