French sports minister causes stir by blaming Liverpool fans for delay at Champions League Final

France's sports minister is catching flack after blaming fans of Liverpool FC for creating a delay outside of Stade de France that delayed Saturday's UEFA Champions League Final by 35 minutes.

Amelie Oudea-Castera, who has only recently been appointed sports minister, told French radio station RTL that English fans trying to force their way through the gates with fake tickets, or without tickets at all, were the main cause for the delay. 

"What we really have to bear in mind is that what happened, first of all, was this mass gathering of British supporters of the Liverpool club, without tickets, or with fake tickets," Oudea-Castera said. She doubled down by adding that this incident was to serve as a lesson for upcoming large-scale events such as the 2024 Summer Olympics.

"I'm very committed, very concerned that we learn absolutely all the lessons from what happened on Saturday evening to optimize everything that needs to be, in view of the Rugby World Cup 2023 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024," she said.

Oudea-Castera's comments have been met with some push back from authorities who were on the ground at the match who claim most of the trouble was caused by local youths trying to sneak into the stadium and not British citizens.