Champions League final: CCTV footage deleted | Paris police chief apologises for tear-gassing Liverpool fans

Paris police chief Didier Lallement has apologised for tear-gassing supporters who were waiting to enter the Champions League final at the Stade de France; Lallement admits there is no scientific evidence for claim 40,000 ticketless supporters arrived at Champions League final

By Kaveh Solhekol, Sky Sports News Chief Reporter

Image: Liverpool fans stuck outside the ground as the kick off is delayed during the UEFA Champions League Final at the Stade de France

Stade de France CCTV footage from the night of the Champions League final has already been deleted, an official from the French Football Federation has confirmed.

Liverpool fans have been blamed by the French authorities for the chaos outside the ground ahead of the 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid, which saw thousands of supporters locked out and then tear-gassed by police. France's sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera and Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin have both blamed ticketless fans or supporters with forgeries trying to get in.

However, there have been numerous eyewitness accounts of major congestion problems on the approach to the stadium and patient fans being locked out for almost an hour as the issues with scanning tickets intensified.

After the match local gangs then assaulted and robbed supporters making their way back to coaches and trains. But there is no video evidence to corroborate this as it has already been destroyed due to an apparent failure by officials to request copies.

"The images are available for seven days. They are then automatically destroyed," Erwan Le Prevost, director of institutional relations at the FFF, told a French Senate hearing looking into events.

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"We should have had a requisition to provide them to the different populations (organisations). The images are extremely violent."

President of the senate law commission Francois-Noel Buffet admitted if they had not properly asked for CCTV to be kept it "would be a serious problem from our point of view".

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'The deleted CCTV footage? It's really worrying'

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram criticises the authorities for the events at the Champions League final in Paris as police used tear gas and pepper spray on supporters queuing up to get into the Stade de France

Liverpool Metropolitan Mayor Steve Rotheram said the missing footage was just another similarity with the way the aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, at which 97 fans died, was handled by the authorities.

"The deleted CCTV footage? It's really worrying. I can't understand why (it was deleted), when we want to know what happened. It shows very clearly there's a real problem. I'm shocked to be honest," he said via video link.

"The problem of the organisation does not come from the tickets or the false accusations against the fans.

French police used tear gas against Liverpool fans, stewards tried to hold back crowds with wheelie bins. Sky News has combed through footage from the Champions League final to find out what actually happened on that night

"Everything degenerated from the exit of the Metros (stations). Mrs Oudea-Castera and Mr Darmanin have set up a false version which serves the interests of the French authorities.

"It's like with the Hillsborough disaster, we put the blame on the fans. There is no proof of what Darmanin says about the counterfeit tickets.

"It's ridiculous to say there were so many counterfeits. If the situation wasn't so serious, I'd be laughing about it."

Paris police chief apologises for tear-gassing Liverpool fans at CL final

Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol explains how the Champions League final delay occurred, with thousands of Liverpool fans being held up outside the Stade de France

Earlier in the hearing Paris police chief Didier Lallement admitted that the managing of the final was "obviously a failure, because people were being pushed around or assaulted while we owed them safety".

Lallement apologised for tear-gassing supporters, who were waiting to enter the Champions League final at the Stade de France.

Speaking at the French Senate on Thursday, he said was sorry for authorising the use of tear gas but felt he had no other option under the circumstances.

Lallement said: "It is obviously a failure. It was a failure because people were pushed around and attacked. It was a failure because the image of the country was undermined."

Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol says the events outside the Stade de France do not tally with what French interior minister Gerald Darmanin considered fraud

Lallement also admitted his early estimate of 30,000 to 40,000 fans without tickets or with fake tickets was probably inaccurate.

"Perhaps I was wrong," he said. "Whether there were 40,000, 30,000 or 20,000, it didn't change the fact that there were tens of thousands of people who could not fit in."

Lallement also admitted his decision to remove a filtration barrier to avoid congestion had seemingly allowed "undesirables" without tickets to get to the stadium gates.

"There were 300 or 400 people who did not seem to be fans. I don't know if they were people from the housing estates around the stadium," he added.

"Is this a type of delinquent population that we meet in Seine-Saint-Denis? Yes, it happens, but we also meet them in the north of Paris."

Liverpool chief executive says he's 'horrified' by fans' accounts of their experiences at the Champions League final in Paris

Liverpool to meet chair of UEFA's CL final review

Police chief Lallement's apology came after it was revealed Liverpool officials would meet the chair of UEFA's review into problems at the Champions League final in an attempt to help satisfy themselves the process will be fully independent.

European football's governing body appointed the Portuguese politician Dr Tiago Brandao Rodrigues to carry out an inquiry into the circumstances which saw huge congestion issues which led to thousands of fans being locked out of the Stade de France and some being tear-gassed by police prior to Real Madrid's 1-0 win.

However, there have been suggestions Rodrigues has links to UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin and Liverpool are understood to be keen to ascertain the independence and scope of his review.

Officials also want full explanations to 13 questions they submitted to UEFA, only some of which have been partially answered, and details of which experts will be involved on the panel before they can make a decision on whether Rodrigues is the right person to lead the review.

Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan says he wants to see an independent investigation into the issues experienced by supporters at the Champions League final

It is understood UEFA, which has pledged unconditional access to its files and staff, has outlined its rationale for appointing Rodrigues but has not provided specific responses to the questions posed by the club.

Liverpool hope a meeting with the chair of the review panel, who will also meet Real Madrid officials separately, will provide more extensive answers.

Sources say they are keen to establish the process will be a thorough, independent and transparent investigation as they are unconvinced by the "independent review" terminology.

In the meantime, the club will meet with supporters trust Spirit of Shankly on Thursday to discuss matters surrounding the Champions League final, among other things.

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