#Fake #tickets #real #confusion #final #ruined
at the Stade de France
Real Madrid won their 14th Champions League this Saturday night in Saint-Denis at the expense of Liverpool (1-0), to settle even higher in the Olympus of European football. But in the absence of a hair-raising match, the whole world -excluding the merengue fans- will remember above all this May 28, 2022, the memory of the monstrous mess before a final organized in our beloved country. The kick-off scheduled for 9:00 p.m. was delayed 36 minutes due to “late arrivals of fans at the stadium”, according to the message broadcast on the giant screens of the Stade de France, first at 8:45 p.m., then half an hour later.
The facts differ somewhat from this modest communication. Intruders who climb through the gates of the venue and run Kylian Mbappé style between completely lost commissioners… Tear gas was fired by the police in the faces of the red fans who brandish their entrance… The images and videos quickly spread, overflowing the social networks. Before the summer, “destination France” would have dreamed of better publicity to bring back certain foreign tourists (and in particular Asians) who have disappeared since the Covid-19 crisis.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérard Darmanin, issued a crisis statement from the Security PC of the Dionysian compound, where he was in the company of Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the new Minister of Sports. “Thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets or with forged tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted delegates,” he tweeted. Thanks to the many police forces mobilized tonight in this difficult context. »
The departure from the Stade de France was made “without difficulty”
Later, at half-past midnight, the police headquarters did not mention the nationality of the fans involved and stressed a “dispersion of spectators” “without difficulty” after the match and “no major incident was observed in the two fan zones “. [à Saint-Denis pour les Espagnols, Cours de Vincennes à Paris pour les Anglais] At 11:45 p.m., the Ministry of the Interior announced a provisional balance of “53 arrests and 24 police custody” in Paris and Saint-Denis, as well as “115 slightly injured supporters, four of whom were evacuated by firefighters”.
Between the tweet of the minister and that of the police headquarters, the one from UEFA intervened. The European body confirms the trail of counterfeit bills and goes into detail. “As the start of the game approaches, the turnstiles [régulant l’entrée au stade] on the side of the stands reserved for Liverpool were blocked by thousands of spectators who bought fake tickets that did not work, “says UEFA. “This created a backlog of spectators trying to enter the stadium and as a result, kick-off had to be delayed 35 minutes to allow as many valid ticketed spectators as possible to enter the stadium. »
Then the hellish spiral began. “As the number of people outside the stadium continued to increase after kick-off, the police had to use tear gas to disperse them,” according to the highest authority in European football, which promises an urgent audit, in collaboration with the French authorities. and the FFF.
Several testimonies corroborate UEFA’s thesis and exculpate the English fans, some of whom missed a good part of the first half. AFP thus questioned one of the swindlers, not born on the banks of the Mersey. “The seats cost 2,000 euros, up to 3,000. If it was 600 euros, I would have taken one,” said the 30-year-old man, who introduces himself as a driver and managed to reach the stairs before being pushed backward by a police officer.
Liverpool calls to investigate
The Liverpool club has “officially” called for an investigation. “We are extremely disappointed with the access problems and perimeter breaches suffered by Liverpool supporters,” the Reds said, citing “unacceptable problems”. Coach Jürgen Klopp lamented for his part that “families [aient] he had to fight to get into the stadium. ” ” Because ? I don’t know yet, it needs an investigation. »
Some 60,000 Britons flocked to the French capital this weekend, by every possible means, from plane to train to motorboat. But the Reds, like the Merengues, only had a contingent of 20,000 places available. Hundreds of small posters, accompanied by telephone numbers, like so many bottles in the sea, have flourished on the walls and street furniture of the capital and Saint-Denis in recent days, in search of tickets for this prestigious poster. So prestigious that demand far outstripped supply for 80,000 seats at the Stade de France.
The logistical gamble that had put the French authorities to the test was therefore lost. And Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, no doubt said on reflection that the choice of France to host the C1 final, despite many other bids (Wembley, Gulf countries, Budapest in particular), was perhaps not the more He advised, once formalized the withdrawal of the organization in St. Petersburg, due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Our country will host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and then the Olympic Games in 2024. For a Champions League final, we will probably have to wait a bit.