13 February 2023 , 17:57
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Liverpool has said it is "hugely disappointing" that UEFA's report into the severe security failures that occurred before and after the club's Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in Paris last May has been leaked.
The governing body's own judgment was leaked on Monday and said that UEFA must take the "primary responsibility" - but the manner in which it has been partially released, without the fans who were affected by the chaos outside Stade de France being notified, has angered club officials.
A Liverpool statement said: "It’s hugely disappointing that a report of such significance, such importance to football supporters’ lives and future safety, should be leaked and published in this way. It’s been over eight months of work by the independent panel and it is only right and proper to publish the contents of the report to our supporters appropriately.
"We will await to receive a copy of the report and digest it thoroughly before making any further comment."
In a damning judgment, an independent panel formed by UEFA eight months ago said that the majority of blame must be taken by the competition organisers' security officials, while rejecting suggestions made by local police and some senior French politicians that thousands of ticketless Liverpool supporters had contributed to the issues outside Stade de France.
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Instead the presence of locals from the St Denis neighbourhood is said to have caused many of the issues with police criticised for failing to engage with the community in advance of the event. Police are also criticised for deploying tear gas as "weaponry" as fans were crushed against closed gates outside of the stadium.
(Getty Images)The report read: “The panel concludes that assertions regarding huge numbers of ticketless supporters, and those with fake tickets, have been wrongly inflated and have been stated as fact, to deflect responsibility for the planning and operational failures of stakeholders. This is reprehensible and has involved Uefa, Uefa Events SA [Uefa’s events organising arm], FFF, the Préfecture de Police, government officials and French ministers.
“Assertions that late, ticketless supporters were either the primary cause or contributed to the dangerous events have a particular resonance with Hillsborough, where similar allegations were made … and persisted for decades before being comprehensively disproved.”
UEFA are yet to officially comment but the report, which goes on to make 21 recommendations around the security at future games, is damning over the local security organisations.
“The panel is also troubled by a number of stark differences as to the facts of what happened, and a general default position of blaming the Liverpool supporters, without any proper evidential basis.”