148 Arrested in Paris as Fighting Breaks Out After PSG Lose Champions League Final

As many as 148 people were arrested on the streets of Paris on Sunday night following Paris Saint-Germain’s defeat in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Lisbon, with 5,000 fans estimated to have gathered outside Parc des Princes to watch on a big screen.

PSG were playing in their first ever Champions League final in this most unique of seasons, only to suffer the heartbreak of defeat by a single goal from former player Kingsley Coman.

France 24 reports that ‘scuffles’ initially broke out around the stadium, where fans were chanting and lighting flares. But trouble later spilled onto streets in the city centre, with fights starting on the Champs-Elysees, with cars torched and shops vandalised.

French interior minister Gerard Darmanin tweeted, “The savagery of some delinquents this night: 16 police officers injured, 12 stores attacked, about 15 damaged vehicles.”

Paris police also confirmed that 404 people were cautioned for not wearing a mask or face covering in compulsory areas, amid the ongoing trouble caused by the coronavirus crisis.

Having seen their fierce domestic rivals lose on the biggest stage, gleeful Marseille fans conversely celebrated on the streets of the Mediterranean city. Theirs remains the only French club to have be European champions, winning the inaugural reimagined Champions League in 1992/93.

Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet tweeted a video in which he showed a PSG badge appearing to have a star over it to signify a Champions League title. But he wagged his finger over it, before pulling the PSG logo away to reveal a Marseille shirt beneath.

He captioned it, ‘One history, one club, one city. Forever the first.’

PSG have dominated French football for close to a decade, winning seven of the last eight Ligue 1 titles. But this season marked their first appearance in a Champions League semi-final since 1994/95, and only their second ever in this competition of the forerunning European Cup.

In seven consecutive seasons between 2012/13 and 2018/19, PSG hadn’t gone beyond the quarter-finals and were on the receiving end of historic comebacks against Barcelona and Manchester United during that run of disappointingly early exits.

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