Liverpool FC CEO Billy Hogan is "incredibly surprised" by comments made by the French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera regarding the chaos before the UEFA Champions League final in Paris against Real Madrid.
Oudea-Castera blamed Liverpool fans for being "let out in the wild", but the Reds' CEO said comments made by Frenchman were "deeply unhelpful."
Addressing the French sports minister, Hogan told Liverpool's official website said: "I would just say we are incredibly surprised that someone in that position would make comments in the first place at this point when we haven't had adequate time to understand what happened. There hasn't been an independent investigation to establish all the facts."
"And as we said on Saturday, there needs to be that independent, transparent investigation into what happened at the match. That's the start of the process. So to be making comments at this stage, prior to any investigation being launched, is completely inappropriate. We should know all the facts to make sure that the scenes that we've all seen - absolutely disgraceful - from Saturday don't ever happen again."
"Making comments as deeply unhelpful as that, we just feel that everyone should be focused on getting the investigation right and less about making inflammatory comments that attempt to deflect responsibility for what happened on Saturday night. What I would say is that our fans were provided with the UEFA information to travel to the stadium safely, which they did; they approached the stadium as directed and in good time. However, it was on arrival at the stadium that they experienced the issues. In regard to the comments, we were in complete disbelief when we were made aware of them earlier today. I think it's important that folks know that our chairman, Tom Werner, sent a letter to the French minister to articulate our views and is calling for an apology to our fans for those comments," Hogan added.
Liverpool has also asked their supporters who attended the UEFA Champions League final in Paris to complete a feedback form in order to support any investigation into the operational management of the event.
The club officially requested a formal and transparent investigation into the issues supporters faced in and around Stade de France, before and after kick-off.
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