BFMTV are going with the government fake tickets angle, no surprise there really horrible news channel.
The goverment are saying (after their meeting of those involved set up) are saying 69% of the tickets were forged. FFS surely this can be ripped to shreds, if true why were there only 105 arrests, Oh yes! I forgot the prefet forgot to tell the police to arrest people selling and using fake tickets even though it’s an offense. 
I think that this Cyril Hanouda stunt needs investigating (I don’t use social media so can not do it (I’m not ‘signed in’ to any)). If word had got out that he was going to try this stunt (getting in free to SdF for this match) it would be an incitement to others to ‘tag’ along and try as well.
If the Nanterre gangs were aware then that would be big trouble imo (I mean these thugs can fill RER trains to go to other areas of Paris just to fight and rob. This is why I keep mentionning Nanterre it’s in another world to anything else from what I know.
It’s difficult, I know the south of France Paris is another world to me but after 30 years you pick things up. I know things that are very different to the ‘ordinary’ UK resident in France, my knowledge is very different as I came over here to live with a familly of the ‘lower’ classes. I live in a council house that’s not your usual englander in France. Not that I know the gang culture of the ‘cities’ either, just heard stuff from people I have met from those places.
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This is interesting because the official tune of the French police is that there was no problems with Real Madrid fans and only with Liverpool fans. But obviously, that’s another lie from them.
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Real Madrid fans’ horror at dismal policing, stolen tickets and violent attacks by local thugs at Champions League final - as one commentator insists ‘tragedy’ was only avoided because English fans behaved well
Real Madrid supporters have recounted the same horror stories from the Stade de France as their Liverpool counterparts, suggesting only the patience of fans prevented multiple deaths.
They have spoken of the same bottleneck security checkpoints at the outer security ring of the stadium with local thugs creating crushes so they could pickpocket fans, and police responding with arbitrary pepper-spraying.
There have also been claims there were no police at the turnstiles where thieves, who had jumped gates on the outer ring, were free to snatch tickets and enter the stadium.
Speaking to Spain’s Radio Cope, Gabriel Saez, the president of fitness company GO fit who was at the game with his wife and five children, said: 'We are lucky to be talking about Madrid’s victory and not a tragedy. There were no signs to say where the entrances were.
'We followed other supporters to the only place you could advance to the stadium. It was a bottleneck and imagine the scene: I have children of eight, 12, 15, 20 and 24 years. In this flood of people I said to my wife, ‘Lets get out of here’, because any sort of trouble in that situation and there would have been deaths.
'But we couldn’t move so we encircled our youngest. There were two police vans making the bottleneck, limiting the space where only five at a time were allowed to pass.
'They frisked you and checked you had a ticket and then let you pass. There were moments when they were firing pepper spray towards people.
‘The English fans have a bad reputation, but I never saw any problems. They were showing a lot of patience. There are a lot of gates to access this stadium. I was there to see a France-Ireland rugby match and there was no problem, but they only opened two or three gates with these bottlenecks.’
Saez saw youths jumping the closed gates, provoking the pepper-spraying.
‘We all got through this first filter and then things got worse,’ he added. 'Going through the turnstile I suddenly saw my 15-year-old daughter struggling with one of the local youths who had snatched her ticket.
'My other children managed to get the ticket back and we got into the stadium. We were surrounded by eight or nine of these youths trying to rob us. We had, let’s say, an exchange of opinions but it turned out favourably and we all got safely inside.
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The police forces will not accept they were in the wrong - from what we’ve seen on telly over the years, they are pretty brutal whenever there’s any revolt/protest in France. Officers had faces covered, they were laughing and mocking, they won’t accept any blame. it only takes one person in Liverpool colours to do something wrong and it’s a free for all.
The French Govt. won’t want to turn around and accept blame either.
It’s on UEFA to call it out - and considering the PSG owner is essentially UEFA, and that this happened in their own back yard - I’m pretty confident that won’t bare any fruit.
In the end - there will be some loosely worded apology - nothing else will change
That’s how I’m now seeing it play out. It’s how it plays out time and time again. Governments are a shambles, so a bit of agro at a stadiums not going to upset them enough to fall on their own swords.
Just so thankful no one died (as far as we know).
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I was thinking about this. Is it possible that after handling numerous protests in the recent years the police has become radicalized/aggressive and they respond to any situation with extreme force?
Another report from the Guardian with a fair bit from Steve Rotherham.
It seems to back up many claims that the turnstiles weren’t working which makes the fake ticket claim doubly nonsensical.
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I hope for every CL game next season the fans boo the crap out of that anthem before kick off. Make it known the distain we have for UEFA as an organisation.
I’d love to see the players turn their back during this too so when the camera pans along its just the backs of their heads.
As a club we shouldn’t let this go with what will at most be an apology, at worst some half arsed investigation that will put the blame on fans.
The more stories that come out the closer the realisation becomes that we weren’t far off seeing a major disaster here. Clearly policed with an agenda, acting with impunity because it’s just football fans that are bearing the brunt of their prejudice. And then they try and blame it on fans whose trip they’ve ruined.
Be great to see the club and fans come together to show unity against that treatment. Despicable bunch of pricks the lot of them.
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I think both LFC and RM clubs will not let this go. It gives Florentin Perez the upper hand with UEFA, even more so now they have won the Cup. Real Madrid are already teed off with PSG for not getting Mbappe. He also made remarks saying that PSG is run by a country whereas Liverpool and Real Madrid are traditionally run clubs, so there is no love lost there between the two.
I know Real Madrid origins are different from our club origins, but joining forces with Real Madrid would be a huge plus, in my view. UEFA need big clubs Real Madrid and Liverpool, they need them to make the Champions League credible, if you know what I mean. On the other hand, the Super league may not be far off which would be to the detriment to UEFA.
The whole press who were actually there and the overwhelming eye witness accounts and video evidence stacked against UEFA and the French authorities will not wash. Also, Prof Scraton is documenting all the timeline evidence from people who were there, so I think this incident will go on until there is some sort resolution.
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What more can be done here? It’s clear that the truth is being shut down and ignored. This needs to be called out.
I’m really feeling for those people aught up in this. They went to see a football game ffs.
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I don’t think they can shut it down, the reputable press who were saw everything and were felt the effects of peppered sprayed, players families were also targeted and robbed. Many corporate people were attacked too, they will complain to UEFA. They can’t sweep this under the carpet like with previous football incidents in the past.
Another option is suing UEFA and the French authorities.
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I hope you’re right Maria. It has too many echoes of 89 to make me comfortable about it.
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I understand what you mean, I clearly remember 1989 and 1985, but this is a different era, with social media and better technology in showing visual evidence, the media cannot lie, they saw what happened, there is so much overwhelming evidence, how can it be ignored.
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I think this is significant. UEFA’s own inquiry will now need to be truly independent and transparent. I think everyone at UEFA will be made aware , if they didn’t already know , of just how much of a respected and determined figure the professor is. They should be very careful now with how this inquiry is conducted. Unlike Hillsborough it won’t take twenty odd years for the facts to be revealed , they are already being collated now , and with video evidence.
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You give an interesting insight to France’s problems. Over here, the English people I know, have these second homes in lovely parts of Provence and Dordogne region, they seem so happy over there. On the other hand, one of my Mum’s carers, she is from Djibouti, lovely lady, she lived in France for years, she has her family there, she paints a different view, she thinks the British are more tolerant than the French.
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Except that part of the blame does lie there. They were the ones with the forged tickets , and they were the ones who rushed the turnstiles and climbed the fences , which led to the teargassing of our supporters.
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I’m not saying it doesn’t. I’m saying that the focus is too much on them relative to who has the greatest culpability, especially when you consider the stories of how the police just basically ignored mugging and assault right in front of them.
It was first and foremost a failure of organisation and policing. As for the rest, I’m not an expert in French politics, particularly Parisian and Saint-Denis.
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Even Thierry Henry said he would not want to be in St Denis.
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I really hope that we and RM fight UEFA together, but I honestly don’t think it will result in an apology from French Authorities, whom UEFA may point the finger at. I do hope I’m wrong. Further, the damage is done - those that already slander our club don’t care for the truth.
At most, we’ll get UEFA apologising to fans for their experience, but not for causing it, and then hopefully some kind of Framework or Regulation changes on the way games are to be managed in the future so it doesn’t happen again - which is the most important thing - people shouldn’t have to fear for their lives when going to a sporting event, particularly when the fear is being driven by the very people that are there to protect people. Every game you go to will come with pick pockets/thieves/gangs, and the poor policing allowed them to take advantage of the situation.
The police treated fans worst than animals - you can herd animals, you can’t physically abuse animals with pepper spray or tear gas without everyone being up in arms. Yet here we have the Authorities pinning blame elsewhere.
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