France blames Liverpool, ticket fraud for Champions League trouble

By Trend

The French government on Monday blamed massive ticket fraud and Liverpool's handling of its fans for the crowd trouble which marred the club's Champions League soccer final against Real Madrid in Paris over the weekend, Trend reports citing Reuters.

But as a blame-game over the fiasco continued into Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the scenes outside the national stadium, which saw some fans including children tear-gassed by French police, as deeply upsetting.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Liverpool had provided their supporters with paper tickets, not electronic, which allowed for the possibility of what he described as a "massive fraud on an industrial scale".

More than two thirds of the tickets presented by some 62,000 Liverpool supporters had been fakes, the minister added.

"I want to say once again that the decisions taken prevented deaths or serious injury," Darmanin told reporters after holding an emergency meeting on Monday.