Merseyside Police releases statement after shambolic scenes at Champions League final
Fans were tear gassed and some were kept out of the stadium until half time
Last updated 29th May 2022
Fans at last night's Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid were subject to being tear gassed and involved in violent clashes as supporters were made to queue outside the Stade de France for hours.
The Reds lost the match to the Spanish club 1-0, but the event was much more than just the game of football.
Children and elderly supporters weren't exempt from the mayhem either as they also got caught up with the tear gas and had guns pointing at them at the end of the match.
Merseyside Police
Merseyside Police have now released a statement about the incident after fans, politicians and UK authorities slammed the policing that was in place in Paris.
"We are aware of a number of reports relating to incidents both before and after last night's Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris," Assistant Chief Constable Chris Green said.
"We are also aware that Liverpool FC have requested a formal investigation from UEFA and we will be linking in with both the club, UEFA and the UK Football Policing Unit to pass on the observations of our officers who attended the game and took part in the pre-match meetings with the relevant authorities.
"As with all European matches officers from Merseyside were deployed in France to work in an observatory and advisory capacity with the local officers, and they have reported that the vast majority of fans behaved in an exemplary manner, arriving at turnstiles early and queuing as directed and their observations will be passed on to the relevant authorities as part of the debrief for the game.
"Many thousands of fans have travelled throughout this season to matches across Europe and we have worked closely with our supporter groups, the Club and European hosts to ensure that the matches passed without incident and fans were kept safe. Our officers returning today will conduct a formal debrief to ensure that we can fully support any subsequent investigation following last night's game.
"We know that people would have witnessed a lot of distressing scenes last night and we wish everyone returning home from Paris a safe journey. Our focus today will be supporting Liverpool city council with the policing of the homecoming parade."
Fan Reaction
One of the supporters at the game, Greg Scott, was shocked at the policing of the match and at UEFA for their organisation of the game.
He told PA: "I've travelled to many stadiums around Europe, away days, that kind of thing but never have I seen anything like this, complete lack of control from the Police.
"Their excuses stink - it's nothing to do with the fans, the club, it's UEFA and the French police. People could have been seriously hurt, we were piled in together for hours in the heat queuing up and then we had no idea where to go next.
"French police were using tear gas on a calm crowd like it was nothing, those with tickets were kept outside, I didn't see most of the first half."
French View
The Parisian police force said that queues started to form due to fans turning up at the stadium without tickets, while the French Minister for Sport, Amelie Oudea-Castera voiced his opinions on Twitter.
He wrote: "The attempts of intrusion and fraud by thousands of English fans have complicated the work of stewards and police forces but will not tarnish (Real Madrid's) victory. Violence has no place in the stadiums."
Liverpool FC have called for a thorough investigation into what happened outside of the stadium.
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