Thread by @AdrianTempany

@ChampionsLeague My experience at Stade de France on Saturday was the 2nd worst I’ve had at a football match, after Hillsborough. It’s difficult to convey the disdain of French police for the welfare of supporters outside the stadium - LFC fans, Madrid fans and neutrals 1/...

2/ This thread is based on what I witnessed, and the accounts of mates out there - around 15-20 of us in total, all with legitimate tickets

Five of us set off from Montmartre in Paris to Stade de France at 7pm on Saturday in an uber, due to take 25mins. Traffic on motorway was chocker - convoys of police wagons cluttering inside lane, and sowing confusion in other lanes with their endless sirens. Journey took 50mins

Arrived at motorway exit for the stadium to see fans emptying out of taxis and walking down hard shoulder of 5-lane motorway. Clear from quarter of a mile away there were problems around the ground

5/ Approach to one of the stadium's 3 (?) main entrances was poorly signed. No assistance from police. Joined a throng of several thousand fans on a slope leading down towards ground, on a road about 25m wide.

6/ This road hemmed in one side by fences, railings or hoardings, and on other led out towards motorway flyover. Bad layout for main entry to a major stadium. Confused fans desperately seeking guidance. Got none, so unsure whether to go clockwise or anti-clockwise round stadium

7/ Joined queue around 7.50pm, 70mins before kickoff. In next 25mins we move forward no more than 10 yards. LFC and RM fans and neutrals mixing fine. No aggro, but congestion building. Above us, local youths are clearly bunking in

8/ They climbed the incline and once they scaled the wall they were calling down to mates, and they were all clearly speaking French. Thousands of us looked on, waiting patiently and calmly

9/ Police reinforcements arrive, dozens of cops march through increasingly congested and distressed fans. There is not a single word of communication from them to us in entire time we are there

10/ Crushing develops around 8.20pm through sheer buildup of people. Pickpockets are operating among the crowd - local youths. Fella next to me is from Texas, man behind me from India. Appalled at what is happening. Madrid fans yelling at police to allow entry

11/ By 8.30 we've been kettled for half an hour. Main entry to stadium is about 25 yards wide, but police have parked wagons across it in zigzag form, leaving a channel only 10ft wide - thousands of us are expected to pass through this in a snake-like pattern, between 2 wagons

12/ BUT... police in riot gear have formed a cordon across this 10ft channel. They allow only 4 or 5 fans through at a time, then close ranks again for 2-3mins each time. No attempt to engage with fans.

People around me now getting distressed. Some in tears

13/ No announcement of delay to kickoff or why police are blocking entry. More local youths are bunking in on slope above us. No sign of police apprehending them

14/ People - including children - are now being crushed against the bonnet of police wagons. Cop behind steering wheel not interested. People now yelling for help. Minor shoving breaks out as panic sets in, but fans call for calm and entire crowd around me responds sensibly

15/ Fans begin passing other people's children over their heads to police forming cordon across the 10ft channel between their wagons, begging police to get the kids out of there. Mums and dads in tears. Some fans now forcing their way backwards, desperate to get out.

16/ Many have now given up hope of safe entry. I finally get through the police cordon at 8.40pm, 50 mins after joining the throng and progressing 30 yards or so. Have to run 300 yards to my gate - still no indication kickoff has been delayed

17/ I pass several gates with no visible sign of open entry, and hundreds of fans off to the left are locked out behind larger gates. Local youths at several entry gates are causing mayhem

18/ At my gates, 15-20% of fans there are locals trying to bunk in, steal tickets from other fans, or use fake tickets. Stewards overwhelmed and understandably scared. Fans with legit tickets being told by stewards to crawl under turnstiles

19/ I get through gate & up to entry point at 8.55pm. Stewards have no idea where my gate is, despite it being on the sign right above their head. I look back onto concourse to see fans legging it into the stadium, no longer pursued by stewards. Again, almost definitely locals

20/ Arrive at seat to find stadium announcements that game has been delayed due to the late arrival of fans. Slanderous bullshit from UEFA. Two mates arrive in upper tier at our end to find two LFC fans giving one of the local scallies a pasting

21/ In our group of around 20 lads, most were either pepper sprayed, teargassed and/or beaten with riot shields, or saw people who were. Many of us are Hillsborough survivors or eyewitnesses, and the trigger risk of trauma is obviously very high

22/ Merseyside Police are spot on in describing behaviour of overwhelming majority of LFC fans as exemplary. Fact is, it was only the responsible behaviour of our fans in the face of vindictive and reckless policing that prevented a dire situation becoming deadly

23/ At no stage were ticket checks in place prior to us arriving at area where we were kettled - inevitably this allowed fans without tickets to add to congestion and run amok around us. Police response to locals bunking in was to kettle thousands of genuine fans with tickets

24/ All the fan misbehaviour I saw was from French lads. But for reasons I won't go into here, it may prove more politically expedient for French authorities to ‘blame the English’

25/ We spent yesterday in Paris, and it became clear the French media, like the English media, were openly calling out the lies of Uefa and the French interior minister

26/ In my opinion, French police and Uefa nearly caused a disaster. I can only report what I witnessed, & I saw no misbehaviour by Liverpool fans. What I saw were thousands of fans, mostly Reds but also Madrid fans and neutrals, behaving impeccably under appalling treatment

27/ Our restraint, much of it influenced by what many of us endured at Hillsborough, averted a potential disaster. Uefa must be held to account, and the French authorities.

Thanks to all the journos, broadcasters and other prominent voices for reporting what they saw.
ENDS

Many thanks to everyone who has replied, retweeted and messaged me about this thread. It's very kind of you