French minister insists wild Liverpool fans claim is true despite debunking

Reds fans including women, children and the disabled were tear gassed, hit with riot shields by police forces and robbed by armed gangs of local youths at European football’s showpiece event, with a French senate investigation currently underway in order to ascertain the cause of the problems which left some supporters traumatised and others with serious injuries.

Oudéa-Castéra and French minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin sought to immediately blame fans in the aftermath, claiming that a ‘massive forgery’ of tickets had occurred in a press conference before insisting to the senate that up to 40,000 tried to enter without a valid match ticket. While fans published masses of video evidence online showing police brutality, neither minister provided any evidence backing up their version of events.

Ahead of testimony in the senate from fans of both Liverpool and Real Madrid last week, senate inquiry co-chairman François-Noël Buffet showed understanding and empathy towards supporters and their accounts of what happened. Buffet pre-faced their accounts by saying: ‘English football fans were not the cause of these problems. Let’s say that clearly. They showed great control in chaotic surroundings.’

The lack of evidence for the 30-40,000 figure, combined with evident failures by various French authorities and competition organiser UEFA, means Oudéa-Castéra and Darmanin have been widely mocked and derided in France for their reaction.

Even Paris chief of police Didier Lallement debunked the figure in his own senate testimony, when he admitted to having given the figures to ministers, adding that it had ‘no scientific value.’ In his testimony, UEFA events CEO Martin Kallen said that around 2,700 fake tickets were in circulation, though even that figure is contested as Kallen admitted that faulty pens and bluetooth connections meant some fans with valid tickets were turned away.

Despite the chief of police’s admittance that the 30-40,000 figure is essentially worthless, Oudéa-Castéra doubled down on it in an interview on Sunday evening.

‘All that we have said is consistent, Oudéa-Castéra told RTL in France. ‘I see a lot of people fighting to try and understand the coherence between the 30,000 [ticketless fans who tried to enter the stadium] we talked about, and the 2,800 fake tickets UEFA says it found. All of that is coherent. This is not false information or lies, it’s important for me to say that. I spent a lot of time in my hearing at the senate explaining this consistency.

‘There was this pre-filter, and we did indeed have 30-40,000 [without tickets]. The inquiries will allow the facts. But all of the information I have had in my hand, along with Gérald Darmanin, so far shows that our figures are consistent.’ Again, Oudéa-Castéra provided no evidence of extra information to back up her claim.

Oudéa-Castéra is a political novice who was only drafted in to the sports minister role on 8 May, less than three weeks ahead of the final, by French president Emmanuel Macron with whom she has shared a personal relationship since their days at one of France’s most prestigious finishing schools in the 1990s.

The former tennis player has appeared sheepish and conciliatory in much of her rhetoric since her senate hearing at the beginning of June, but her tone will not appease fans who last week demanded an apology and consequences for ‘lies and smears’ before the senate.

‘I am obviously sad about what happened,’ Oudéa-Castéra added. ‘Sad that France’s image has been damaged. Sad that 2,700 people who had valid tickets did not make it into the stadium. And that a big number of people experienced something terrible on that night, which will stay in their memories. We have a lot of work to do to erase that.’

‘I have talked a lot to the English. It was important for me to discuss things with my counterpart Nigel Huddlestone. I also wrote to the chairman of Liverpool. I wrote him a letter with my heart and my guts. I needed to tell him a number of things, notably our apologies for this experience that the Liverpool fans lived.’

Premier League legend backs Darwin Nunez and Erling Haaland to have prolific seasons

For more stories like this, check our sport page.