PARIS – A senior UEFA official said on Tuesday that he did not believe French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin’s claims about the number of fake tickets in circulation before last month’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Darmanin claimed that between 30,000 and 40,000 Liverpool fans arrived in Paris without or with fake tickets following the game on May 28.
The minister claimed that was the source of the problems, as police funnelled thousands of fans into narrow checkpoints and left them standing in underpasses around the stadium or at locked stadium gates, causing the game to be delayed by more than 30 minutes.
The figure, according to Martin Kallen, general director of UEFA Events, which is in charge of the body’s commercial events, was much lower during a hearing at the French Senate, which is investigating the incidents.
