Liverpool president demands apology from French government

A chaotic final that turns into a rat race: three days after the organizational failures around the Stade de France, anger persists in Liverpool, whose president on Tuesday demanded an apology from the French authorities for having pointed the finger at Reds supporters .

Like many fans of his club returning from Paris, where the Champions League final lost to Real Madrid (1-0) resulted in scenes of pre-match chaos, Liverpool president Tom Werner is outraged . He wrote it in a letter to French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera, a copy of which local daily Liverpool Echo obtained.

In question, the remarks in a press briefing by Ms. Oudéa-Castera and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin on Monday, who repeated what they have been saying since Saturday evening: the British supporters would be largely responsible for the mess at Saint-Denis, at the gates of Paris, with a “massive, industrial and organized fraud of counterfeit banknotes”. The sports minister further said that Liverpool “have left their supporters in the wild”.

These charges bring back to Liverpool supporters the horrible memories of the Hillsborough disaster which left 97 dead in 1989 in a mob for which Reds fans had long been held responsible before the bad decisions of the police. are not recognised.

Werner denounces “irresponsible comments”

Tom Werner expressed his “total disbelief” that Amélie Oudéa-Castera could make “a series of unproven statements on a subject of such importance”, even before a thorough investigation was held.

“Your comments are irresponsible, unprofessional and completely disrespectful of the thousands of physically and emotionally hurt fans,” he added, saying he had received countless emails from “scared to death” supporters and denouncing “a strategy seeking to attribute the fault of others”.

“On behalf of all the fans who experienced this nightmare, I ask for an apology from you, and an assurance that the French authorities and UEFA will allow an independent and transparent investigation to take place,” he said. he added, as the European football body confirmed on Monday that it would commission an “independent report”.