THE FRENCH DIVISION
It was an extremely difficult weekend for Liverpool fans, and some of them were lucky enough to enter the Stade de France on Saturday to see their team lose against Real Madrid in the Cup final. Many others were left outside the stadium’s perimeter fence as they tossed tickets through their nose – a nose that was left, together with its eyes, rinsing from the gas tears sent by members of the local French constable unfriendly was dripping their way.
Hundreds of people played games and reporters on the spot – including authoritative voices such as Gary Lineker, Kelly Cates, Carrie Brown, Rob “Trouble” Harris, the lads from The Anfield Wrap and Big Paper’s own floating football brain in jar, Jonathan. Wilson, tweeted their own experiences, and left those Liverpool fans feeling let down, unsafe and completely scared. Still, there were many others on social media – but basically nowhere near Paris – who knew better.
The Childish tribe meant they were willing to direct their Big Finger O’Blame squarely towards Liverpool fans. Almost a man, a woman and a child, with only a few inevitable exceptions, seemed calmly patient in the face of the organization ‘s unspeakable incompetence, and completely without the blame for the fiasco that we all saw emerging.
We are already here, of course, and it seems that little more than blind misfortune prevented another terrible tragedy. And as before, those on duty have quickly moved on to innocent scapegoat supporters. Initially making false accusations that they arrived late, they then determined that fans had received thousands of counterfeit tickets, giving no evidence to support either claim.
“I would like to thank the forces of law and order,” French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin told local police. “They were very calm and able to avoid drama.” These rozzers also appear to have been threatening journalists who were recording their activities, and responding to calls for help from fans stuck outside the stadium by spraying peppers in the face.
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French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra then announced that “30,000 to 40,000 fans without tickets or with fake tickets” was the cause of the problem. Without giving evidence to support this assertion, and looking at testimonials from people who have actually been there, these assertions look distressing even by the standards of her own thick British-as-a-submarine counterpart, Nadine Dorries .
Meanwhile back on Merseyside, Liverpool players and a backroom team tried to overcome their disappointment by taking to the streets on an open bus to celebrate the two pots they won this season. As always at any time when fans or footballers come together to celebrate a huge success, the Twitter Fun Gendarmes hurling metaphorical tear gas was on their way. In the pursuit of fun originally planned, you seem to be damned these days when you win trophies and even more damned when you are not.
Today, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, spoke in favor of Liverpool fans, for whom the Conservative Party has long held a special place in their hearts. “We know that many Liverpool fans traveled to Paris in good time to support their team in one of the biggest games of the season, and we are very disappointed with how they were treated,” he said. . “Fans know what happened, so we urge Uefa to work closely with the French authorities on a full investigation, and to publish its findings.”
The news is welcome and, while Boris is seldom excited about the results of the inquiry being published, we can only conclude for once, that at this time it is certain that there is nothing to do. involving the dishonesty associated with these omnishambles.
STATEMENT OF THE DAY
“For me, the League of Nations is not important. Just glorified friendship after a long and intense season. I’m not looking forward to it. In 12 months, we have three weeks off. The outsiders don’t understand – but they don’t have to because it won’t change anything. ” Kevin De Bruyne from Manchester City tells the story. At least you didn’t have to play the Cup final, did Kev? Kev?
FIVE LETTERS
“Thanks to the heavens Uefa bigwigs decided to move the Big Cup from St. Petersburg. I wonder what would happen if brutal, unruly, armor-clad police were allowed innocent football fans no doubt. And how nice it is to see Uefa’s corporate partners bounce back to their superb seats after a terrific gourmet buffet ”- Mark McFadden.
“I only got a missionary on Friday morning and saw the link to Jonathan Wilson’s preview of the Big Cup. All I had to do was look at the first article. Well done Jonathan ”- Marisa Cardoni.
“I imagined Forest fans would be overjoyed about the promotion. But the crowd of them I saw at St. Pancras station this morning was sicker like parrot territory. Despicable, anxious and light-hearted – can you certainly enjoy a few weeks of hope before the financial realities come home? ” – Andrew Battarbee.
The lyrics of Rotterdam (Or Anywhere), released by the Beautiful South in 1996, projected the positions of three of the six European club competitors this season. Coincidence? I don’t think so ”- Tim Cole.
Send your letters to [email protected] And you can always tweet on The Fiver via @guardian_sport. The winner of our easy letter from today is… Mark McFadden.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Get your ears around the latest Football Weekly. While working with him, Max, Barry and the pod team are going back on tour. Tickets to live shows in June and July are available here.
NEWS, RISKS AND BOBS
Todd Boehly has promised to build on Chelsea’s “great success history” after the club was officially in charge of the club.
Andy Goram has been diagnosed with incurable cancer. The former Scotland goalkeeper has vowed to “fight like never before” after doctors told him he has about six months to live.
EFL chief executive Trevor Birch has warned that the number of recent field invasions of next season cannot be “continued”. It has promised “tougher but proportionate sanctions” for future offenders.
Robert Lewandowski made it clear to Bayern that he wanted to. “I don’t want to play there anymore,” said the striker. “Transfer is the best solution. I hope they don’t stop me. ”
Steve Cooper is excited about Nottingham Forest ‘s ingenuity from promotion to promotion. “It’s a magical football club and we’ve just reminded that to the world,” Cooper said.
Camila Cabello met Real Madrid and Liverpool fans for singing their own songs during her pre-match performance of the Cup. “My team and I worked hard to bring the right vibes and a good show,” the singer crouched in a quick tweet. “Very bad but whatever.”
And Caitlin Foord has signed a new deal from Flamin ‘Matildas with Arsenal. “I fell completely in love and found myself again,” Foord tried. The Fiver does not know the feeling.
STILL ABOUT MORE?
Former Arsenal suit Ivan Gazidis joins Donald McRae after helping Meeelan end his long scudetto stay.
With the Football League campaign officially in the books, Ben Fisher puts up not one team, not two, but three teams of the season.
Nick Ames was at Wembley to watch Nottingham Forest return to the Premier League. This one is for the football romances.
Barney Ronay has some interesting ideas on what makes Real Madrid so good at winning the Champions League.
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