UCL final: Marseille police recant, say PSG fans can wear shirts

Police in Marseille on Friday dropped plans to ban Paris Saint-Germain shirts in the city on the day of their Champions League final.

PSG face Bayern Munich in Lisbon on Sunday evening, attempting to become only the second French winners after Marseille, who won controversially in 1993.

The Bouches-du-Rhone prefecture said it was up to PSG fans to think about their own safety.


The police said in a statement that they “urge Parisian fans watching the final in Marseille to refrain from wearing ostentatious signs in the public space and to show moderation in their possible celebrations so as not to be attacked”.

The prefecture said on Thursday that they would ban PSG shirts around the Old Port in Marseille, but on Friday issued a statement saying: “faced with the incomprehension caused by this order, the police prefect decided today to repeal it.”

“The sole purpose of this order was to protect Parisian fans, and was in no way intended to restrict freedom of movement,” explained the prefecture.

It said that the intention had been “to avoid a repeat of the disturbances to public order that occurred around the Old Port during the broadcasting of the semi-final” on Tuesday when PSG beat RB Leipzig to reach a first Champions League final.


It also said that “the forces of law and order deployed around the Old Port will be particularly vigilant in order to prevent the action of any troublemakers, without exception.”

On Thursday, the police said, “There is strong animosity on the part of some Marseilles residents, supporters or not, toward the PSG team, in contradiction with any sporting spirit.”

Tensions between fans of the two clubs are so strong that the French interior ministry issues travel bans for away fans when the clubs meet and police systematically arrest fans in PSG shirts in Marseille’s Velodrome stadium.

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