EVERTON legends Robbie Fowler and Jamie Carragher attacked the French government as “liars” who are refusing to take any responsibility for the Champions League Final crisis.
After an emergency meeting in Paris, French interior minister Gerald Darmanin blamed an “industrial level” of fake tickets for the scenes of carnage outside the Stade de France.
Despite scores of eyewitness accounts by Liverpool fans and independent observers, Darmanin claimed that “30,000 to 40,000” Reds fans arrived at the gates of the stadium with “fraudulent” tickets.
Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, who announced a full-scale probe will be held by European football bosses, said that police had retained 2,700 fake tickets.
But the allegations brought a tidal wave of outrage from Liverpool fans and former players, led by Carragher and Fowler.
A furious Carragher blasted: “The lies and spin from people in authority is a disgrace.
“Liars. Oudea-Castera, Uefa, police and authorities can’t get away with cover ups as easily as they used to thankfully.”
Darmanin added injury to the insult as he claimed that the French police who tear-gassed fans waiting for hours outside the games had been the heroes of the night.
He said: “I would like to thank all the police who, by their calmness, avoided a tragedy.
“The decisions taken by the police ensured that there were no deaths or serious injuries.
“That initial filtering was removed to avoid people being crushed on police cordons or on gates.”
That brought a stunned response from Fowler, who also took to Twitter to insist: “It was the calm and avoid of drama by the Liverpool fans that evaded another catastrophe.”
Darmanin and Oudea-Castera were speaking after a two hour meeting with police, stadium officials and the Paris authorities to discuss the scenes of Saturday night.
And the interior minister even accused Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp of being responsible for his call to ticketless fans to travel to the French capital.
Darmanin said: “In 2019, the final between Liverpool and Tottenham caused the same issues in Madrid. So did a final at Wembley a few years ago.
“There was also the Liverpool manager who called on supporters to come to France even without tickets.
“We found ourselves with tens of thousands of British supporters of which a section respected the rules perfectly. And a minor, but extremely lively, section which pushed the authorities.”
The French authorities appear determined to blame fans rather than admit to their own failings, with Darmanin suggesting asking the Stade de France to hold the game with notice of less than three months was unfair.
Darmanin added: “There was a lack of organisation in the reception for the English supporters but not for the Spaniards.
“I want to express our regrets about the organization because it meant a small number of spectators could not attend the match.
“But this match was only organised at the Stade de France three months ago. It normally takes between twelve and eighteen months to organise a match of this magnitude.”
And Oudea-Castera added: “What we must not forget is that, despite everything that happened, this match still went ahead and was played without casualties or serious injuries and with no violence between supporters.
