French interior minister apologises to Liverpool fans for CL chaos

French interior minister Gérald Darmanin has offered an apology to Liverpool fans for the distressing scenes at the Champions League final in Paris.

Liverpool fans were initially 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 both said ticketless fans or supporters with forgeries trying to get in were the cause of the trouble.

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 amid issues with scanning tickets.

Having testified before the senate that some supporters arrived late, some were intoxicated and around 40,000 tried to enter the stadium with no tickets or fake tickets in "massive fraud on an industrial scale," Darmanin has now climbed down.

Darmanin did not retract his claims, but the evidence presented by the Liverpool Disabled Supporters chair Ted Morris and Spirit of Shankly's Joe Blott last week has forced him to admit "poor management" of the showpiece.

"Could the Stade de France have been better managed? The answer is yes," he told RTL in France.

"Do I have some responsibility for that? The answer is yes. I apologise to those who who suffered from this poor management.

"It is certain we have changes to make to the organisation."

Darmanin shifted blame to the "delinquency in Saint-Denis".

In response, Spirit of Shankly said: "No one should underestimate the significance of this. One week after the truth was told by the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association and