2800 fraudulent tickets were detected, according to UEFA.
PARIS – After the French authorities blamed "huge" ticket fraud for the tumultuous scenes that marred Saturday's Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has sought an apology on behalf of the club's fans.
According to a source, UEFA and the French football association calculated that 2,800 bogus tickets were scanned at the final.
According to the source, the two bodies made that estimate during a crisis meeting at the French sports ministry on Monday.
Thousands of Liverpool fans with tickets struggled to enter the Stade de France, prompting a storm of criticism directed at the French authorities.
The match, which Real Madrid won 1-0, was postponed for 36 minutes to give fans more time to enter the stadium after being funnelled into jammed passageways and subjected to tear gas and pepper spray by police.
In a leaked letter addressed to French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera on Monday, Werner, who is part of the Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, claimed he was left in "total amazement" by her statements about the mayhem.
Initially, Oudea-Castera blamed Liverpool for the chaos, telling a French radio station that the club had failed to adequately organise its supporters who travelled to Paris.
Following a crisis conference at the sports ministry on Monday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin resolutely asserted that ticket frauds and Liverpool supporters' behaviour were to blame.
"I am writing to you today out of complete disbelief that a French government minister... could make a series of unproven pronouncements on a matter of such importance before a proper, formal, independent investigation process has even taken place," Werner wrote in his letter, which was leaked to the local Liverpool Echo newspaper.
"Your statements were reckless, unprofessional, and completely insulting to the thousands of fans who were physically and emotionally hurt," the chairman from Boston continued.
"I want an apology from you on behalf of all the supporters who have been through this horror, as well as assurance that the French authorities and UEFA will enable an impartial and transparent enquiry to take place."
Later, Oudea-Castera stated that she had not received any correspondence from Liverpool, although she did make a partial apology.
"We had Liverpool supporters who were completely above board, whose evening was wrecked, and some of them were unable to watch the game," she explained.
"It's evident that we owe them an apology."
The governing body of European football has declared that Tiago Brandao Rodrigues, a Portuguese politician, will lead an independent investigation.
According to Oudea-Castera, the goal of the enquiry is to "confirm the veracity of the facts, the volumes, traffic or no traffic, the origin of this traffic, and what transpired exactly."
For Liverpool, the chaos brought back painful memories of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 97 people in a stadium crush.
Then, as at the weekend, authorities originally accused ticketless fans, but after a protracted court battle, they were exonerated.
Werner said in his letter that the events in Paris were "very risky for those who were present" and warned against "a blame game approach through press conference."
"I've received several emails from Liverpool fans who have been terrorised by police harassment, pepper spray, and tear gas," he continued.
Darmanin said that 30,000 to 40,000 Liverpool fans were outside the Stade de France with counterfeit or no tickets.
Authorities claim that this contributed significantly to the crowding at the gates of France's national stadium, resulting in vast, slow-moving lines and a tremendous congestion.
However, the figures presented have been disputed, especially in France, where the president of a significant fans organisation, who was present at the stadium on Saturday, referred to them as a "lie."
He told AFP, "There were some fans with bogus tickets, but not hundreds."
"30-40,000 bogus tickets, it looks very, very large," said Regis Juanico, a sports expert from France. "I'm waiting for the two ministers' Senate hearing on Wednesday to learn more about it."
According to a letter obtained by AFP Tuesday, French security agencies informed authorities two days before the game about the danger of supporters arriving without tickets or with fraudulent ones.
blogpay
