French minister apologises for Champions League Final pandemonium

"Should things have been managed better at the Stade de France (stadium)? The answer is yes. Am I partly responsible? The answer is yes," Darmanin told RTL radio. "Of course, I readily apologise towards everyone who suffered from this bad management of the event," he added.

After scenes of fans crowded into tight spaces and being tear-gassed by police caused outrage around Europe, Darmanin poured fuel on the fire by blaming supporters with fake tickets for the disruption. UEFA events director Martin Kallen last week told French senators investigating the fiasco that the football body's count of fake tickets was far short of the tens of thousands claimed by French authorities.

"We don't believe it's the number mentioned in France," he said, adding that 2,600 fake tickets were identified at turnstiles -- compared with the number of 30,000 to 40,000 people with fake tickets and without tickets suggested by Darmanin.