French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday made a partial apology for chaos at last month’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in Paris, while insisting fake tickets and “delinquency” were mostly to blame.
“Should things have been managed better at the Stade de France (stadium)? The answer is yes. Am I partly responsible? The answer is yes,” Darmanin told RTL radio.
“Of course, I readily apologise towards everyone who suffered from this bad management of the event,” he added.
After scenes of fans crowded into tight spaces and being tear-gassed by police caused outrage around Europe, Darmanin poured fuel on the fire by blaming supporters with fake tickets for the disruption.
UEFA events director Martin Kallen last week told French senators investigating the fiasco that the football body’s count of fake tickets was far short of the tens of thousands claimed by French authorities.