{"id":32400,"date":"2022-06-01T18:16:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T18:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/40000-fake-tickets-at-the-champions-league-final-actually-it-was-2589\/"},"modified":"2022-06-01T18:16:44","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T18:16:44","slug":"40000-fake-tickets-at-the-champions-league-final-actually-it-was-2589","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/40000-fake-tickets-at-the-champions-league-final-actually-it-was-2589\/","title":{"rendered":"40,000 Fake Tickets at the Champions League Final?  Actually, It Was 2,589."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of the main claims pushed by French officials to explain the chaotic crowd scenes that created a dangerous crush of fans outside last weekend&#8217;s Champions League final near Paris has been that tens of thousands of people arrived at the match bearing fake tickets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">France&#8217;s interior minister, G\u00e9rald Darmanin, has claimed as many as 70 percent of tickets presented at the Stade de France in St.-Denis were fake.  He told a news conference Monday that the \u201croot cause\u201d of the chaos was roughly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GDarmanin\/status\/1530666495290011648\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">30,000 to 40,000 English fans<\/a> bearing counterfeit tickets &#8211; or no tickets &#8211; who jammed the entrances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But according to official numbers reviewed by The New York Times, the exact number of fake tickets intercepted by stewards manning the entrance gates was far lower: 2,589, to be exact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That figure is almost three times the usual number of forgeries at the Champions League final, a game widely considered to be European soccer&#8217;s equivalent of the Super Bowl, but significantly lower than the figure used by Darmanin, who had as of Wednesday not provided details of the source of his estimate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Darmanin and France&#8217;s sports minister, Am\u00e9lie Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra, who has made similar claims about fake tickets, have faced growing criticism over the handling of the game.  France&#8217;s president, Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday called for \u201cfull transparency\u201d in an investigation of the match-day scenes and their causes.  At an appearance in front of a committee of the French senate later Wednesday, Darmanin admitted, &#8220;Clearly things could have been organized better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">&#8220;It is evident,&#8221; he added, &#8220;that this celebration of sport was ruined.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In what became a testy appearance in front of the committee, Darmanin and Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra came under sustained pressure over the organizational failures.  In response, they largely repeated the language that has enraged Liverpool, its fans and members of the British government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At one point, Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra told lawmakers that Liverpool supporters carried a \u201cvery specific risk\u201d in the view of the French authorities, without elaborating what she meant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Darmanin, meanwhile, insisted the counterfeit ticket numbers were of an unprecedented scale, claiming at one point there were so many that stadium security guards thought their tools to validate them were faulty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hearing lasted longer than an hour, ending with little clarity and a doubling down by the officials on their previous claims, again without evidence to support their conclusions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That prompted one lawmaker to ask: \u201cSince Saturday, we have blamed Liverpool fans and the club, striking workers and locals for the chaos.  What allows you to make these declarations without a thorough investigation? &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Not all attendees had the same experience at the final.  While most of Real Madrid&#8217;s fans arrived with electronic tickets, Liverpool requested paper ones for its official allocation of 23,000 tickets.  Those tickets came embedded with two main security features: one that needed to be confirmed with a chemical pen and a second that was a laser engraving of the Champions League trophy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those holding tickets without the two security features were to be denied access by stewards at an initial checkpoint far from the stadium&#8217;s bar code readers.  But that system collapsed under a deluge of fans: To relieve the growing crush of people, officials abandoned those first checks and allowed the crowds to move closer to the stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The debacle has led to chorus of criticism of the security at the match, in which Real Madrid defeated Liverpool, 1-0, to claim its record 14th European title.  Liverpool police who attended in supporting roles labeled the situation outside the gates &#8220;<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MerPolLFC\/status\/1530687903352901637\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">shocking<\/a>. &#8221;  The club, its fans and a European supporters group all called for investigations even as the game was underway.  And in the days since, British government officials have demanded answers from their French counterparts and European soccer&#8217;s governing body, UEFA, for the treatment of thousands of Liverpool supporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Supporters faced multiple issues, including dangerous crushes, after being corralled into narrow spaces, and the final was delayed more than 30 minutes as the French riot police used tear gas and pepper spray on fans after appearing to lose control of the situation.  At the same time, hundreds of local youths tried to force their way into the stadium, either through the turnstiles or by climbing over security fences.  Officials estimated as many as 4,000 ticketless people may have succeeded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Part of the explanation into why Liverpool supporters found themselves trapped in such a small space has now turned to transportation problems on the day of the game, including a strike by workers that affected one of the major rail links to the stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">UEFA and local officials have compared travel data from Saturday&#8217;s game to figures from the French Cup final held at the Stade de France on May 7. They found that one of the stations closest to the Stade de France had four times as many fans travel through its gates Saturday than had used the station during the French Cup final.  That, they believe, contributed to the dangerous bottleneck of supporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It may be months before a complete picture of what occurred at the stadium emerges.  On Tuesday, UEFA, reeling from chaotic scenes at last year&#8217;s European Championship final in London as well as the recent Europa League final in Seville, Spain, appointed a former education minister of Portugal, Tiago Brand\u00e3o Rodrigues, to lead an independent inquiry into the failures around the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The claims made by the French government&#8217;s representatives, though, continue to infuriate Liverpool and its ownership.  The club&#8217;s chairman, Tom Werner, said as much in a caustic letter to Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra, the French sports minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He wrote, he said, &#8220;out of utter disbelief that a minister of the French government, a position of enormous responsibility and influence, could make a series of unproven pronouncements on a matter of such significance before a proper, formal, independent investigation process has even taken place. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He decried the \u201cloose data and unverified assertions\u201d presented to reporters Monday before an investigation had taken place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe fact that your public position went against this objective is a concern in itself,\u201d he added.  \u201cThat you did so without any recourse to ourselves or our supporters is an even greater one.  All voices should count in this process, and they should count equally and fairly. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As well as assailing Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra for her claims, Werner also demanded a public apology.  By late Tuesday, Oud\u00e9a-Cast\u00e9ra&#8217;s tone di lei &#8211; though not her claims di lei about fake tickets &#8211; had changed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe issue of the false tickets does not change this: Liverpool is one of the greatest clubs ever,\u201d she wrote on Twitter.  \u201cAnd on Saturday there were supporters with valid tickets that spent a terrible evening or were not able to watch the game.  We are sorry for that. &#8220;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Liverpool continues to be inundated with video evidence shot on cellphones by its supporters.  The images, many of which have also been uploaded to social media, are sometimes harrowing, showing children and older fans dealing with the effects of tear gas fired &#8211; sometimes <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaraMenai\/status\/1530845571241607168?s=20&amp;t=mKj0GOrRR--S4KRLSlpDug\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">indiscriminately<\/a> &#8211; by the riot police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Fans of Real Madrid faced similar problems on their side of the stadium.  Since the final, several supporters have come forward to say they were attacked or robbed on their way in and out of the stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Amando S\u00e1nchez, 51, who traveled to Paris in a group of 14, mainly family members, said his 87-year-old father and an older brother missed the game as a result of chaos at the entry gates.  Another brother, S\u00e1nchez said, fought off an effort to steal his ticket as he prepared to present it at a stadium turnstile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cReally no one was in charge,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said in an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the main claims pushed by French officials to explain the chaotic crowd scenes that created a dangerous crush of fans outside last weekend&#8217;s Champions League final near Paris has been that tens of thousands of people arrived at the match bearing fake tickets. France&#8217;s interior minister, G\u00e9rald Darmanin, has claimed as many as &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/40000-fake-tickets-at-the-champions-league-final-actually-it-was-2589\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">40,000 Fake Tickets at the Champions League Final?  Actually, It Was 2,589.<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/06\/01\/multimedia\/01soccer-tickets3\/01soccer-tickets3-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/06\/01\/multimedia\/01soccer-tickets3\/01soccer-tickets3-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}