Sportsmail can today reveal that French authorities blocked attempts to portray an accurate picture of what was behind the Champions League final chaos as part of what has been a ‘politically motivated cover-up’ that ‘reaches high levels of government’.
An investigation by this newspaper has learned that UEFA officials wanted to issue a statement before the end of Liverpool‘s delayed clash with Real Madrid to highlight the role of local thugs in the carnage which saw fans including women and children indiscriminately tear-gassed before the Paris showpiece.
European football’s governing body, however, was ordered to remove any such reference as French authorities instead sought to pile the blame solely on Liverpool supporters.
The revelations come 24 hours after a report commissioned by the French prime minister found that Liverpool fans were not to blame.
Over 30 pages, significant failures with crowd management, a lack of information on entry points and a ‘failure to read warning signs of the presence of malicious individuals who came in large numbers to commit acts of delinquency’ were instead listed as the main contributing factors that led to ‘a climate of tension’.
It emerged on Friday that sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera had written to Liverpool to apologise to fans. However, she insisted fake tickets were the ‘primary cause’. The report will increase pressure on the government for a full apology. It was also disclosed that after vital CCTV footage from the Stade de France was wiped, footage from Metro lines had also been erased.
Meanwhile, sources in France also claimed:
- The proximity of this weekend’s key elections – a political timebomb – influenced the government’s narrative;
- Police ‘planned for a war and not a football match’;
- Warnings about the threat of local gangs were ‘ignored’;
- Fans were left to fend for themselves after the match amid horrendous attacks by organised crime gangs after cops left the area before the final whistle.
With kick-off approaching on May 28 and thousands left outside due to what has been described by insiders who were close to the control room as a ‘shambolic logistical operation’, a message went on the scoreboard that kick-off would be delayed because of the late arrival of fans.
UEFA were acting on information provided by stadium authorities but it rapidly became clear that the arrival of ticketless locals – many of whom jumped the fence to gain access to the ground – triggered panic, with riot police reaching for their canisters of pepper spray.
A further statement, prepared during the match amid outrage from those present who had witnessed the scenes, highlighted the presence of gangs as an aggravating factor which led to the use of tear gas.
But it is understood French officials demanded the reference be removed and continued with their attacks on Liverpool fans.
‘The whole thing was an avoidable mess,’ one well-placed insider explained. ‘You had riot police there ready to deal with English hooligans from the 1980s. They prepared for war, not a football match.’
This weekend, France goes to the polls in parliamentary elections for the first time since President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected in April and insiders say a ‘political trap’ was at the forefront of the messaging that came out of the Stade de France – with a conservative head of state under fire from the right and the left.
Some politicians this newspaper spoke to believe that Liverpool fans were scapegoated because the governing party was concerned that any highlighting of the role played by predominantly North African and illegal immigrants would be seized upon by the left as evidence of racism and would go against them at the polls, with the left-wing New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES) party poised to challenge amid concerns Macron’s La Republique En Marche party could be left without a majority in parliament.
There is also the belief that the government could not be seen to have lost control of the Saint-Denis area by right-wing voters, where it is suspected that the numbers of illegal immigrants are much higher than officials are admitting. Indeed, a large percentage of those who were arrested on the evening were illegal immigrants who did not have any identifying papers.
Michel Savin, from centre-right party Les Republicans (REP), echoed the report’s findings. ‘What is certain is that Liverpool fans are not solely responsible for what happened,’ he said. ‘We must stop presenting untruths.