French Police Say 70% of Paper Tickets for Champions League Final in Paris Fake

PARIS (Sputnik) - About 70% of paper tickets for the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in France were fake, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday.
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The final match was held at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday and ended with Real Madrid beating Liverpool with a score of 1:0. Before the game, the French police fired tear gas at fans of Liverpool who were trying to break into the Stade de France stadium. The match started with a 37-minute delay due to security concerns.
"The tickets were made in paper form at the request of the Liverpool club. All 22,000 British tickets were made of paper, which contributed to massive industrial fraud. According to preliminary estimates, 70% of the tickets turned out to be fake," Darmanin told a briefing.
Earlier on Monday, French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera blamed Liverpool's fans and the Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) decision to distribute hard copies of tickets for the unrest during the game on Saturday. She added that 30,000-40,000 British fans came to the stadium either ticketless or with fake tickets.
So far, 105 fans have been arrested, according to the French police.
The Champions League final was initially planned to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg; however, the UEFA decided to change the location for the game due to Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.
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