PARIS — Kickoff in the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid was delayed 36 minutes on Saturday amid fan violence outside the Stade de France in Paris.
Wild footage on social media showed fans climbing over fences, and there were reports of tear gas being used to suppress the crowd.
Another fan evaded stewards and was seen sprinting through the concourse and into the bottom level of the stadium.
About 15 minutes before the scheduled kickoff of 9 p.m. local time, an announcement was made that there would be a delay because of the late arrival of fans to the stadium. That delay was extended to 30 minutes. The claim of late-arriving fans has been discredited by fans on the ground who claimed they were on time but saw gates closed prior to entry.
There have been sporadic instances of soccer fans, apparently without tickets, breaking through security and attempting to get into the stadium. The Associated Press saw two fans — one was wearing Liverpool attire — wrestled to the ground by stewards and bundled out of the gates.
Another fan evaded stewards and was seen sprinting through the concourse and into the bottom level of the stadium.
There were long lines of Liverpool fans still outside the stadium when there was 40 minutes to kickoff.
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