'F**k Me, Is There Nothing You're Not An Expert On?' - Richard Keys Slams Gary Neville Over BT Sport Criticism

Richard Keys has slammed Gary Neville over his criticism of BT Sport's coverage of the crowd trouble that marred the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Kick-off on Saturday was delayed by more than half an hour after thousands of fans struggled to gain access to the Stade de France due to congestion outside the stadium in Saint-Denis.

French riot police fired pepper spray and tear gas at Liverpool supporters as the situation spiralled out of control.

BT Sport had no correspondent outside the stadium during the crowd trouble and had to rely on punditry from inside the ground, much of which was unrelated to the chaos unfolding outside.

Sky Sports pundit Neville criticised BT Sport for their coverage, posting on Twitter: "Are you surprised? I'm not. They can't react or aren't agile to things like this happening."

His comments prompted former Sky Sports presenter Keys, who now works for beIN SPORTS, to defend BT Sport.

Keys posted on Monday: "F*** me @GNev2, Is there nothing you're not an expert on?

"I've worked with guys @BTSport & they're top pros as @mrjakehumphrey has said.

Are you surprised? I’m not.They can’t react or aren’t agile to things like this happening 🤷🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/ohyAA2bse3

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) May 28, 2022

Fair to say BT Sport and their lightweight team are totally unsuited to covering an event like this still chatting football 5 Live covering what is happening properly

— tweetSP0RT (@tweetSP0RT) May 28, 2022

You’d have thought BT have enough cameras to send someone outside and film the carnage to inform viewers. Prattling on with pundits and waiting for an opening ceremony is reminiscent of the tone-deaf TV coverage in build-up to Euro 2020 final amid chaos outside. #UCLfinal

— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) May 28, 2022

"I'm quite certain Saturday was a challenging night for everyone. Just like covering the OT [Old Trafford] riot you instigated & covered badly at Sky."

BT Sport presenter Jake Humphrey also took to social media to defend the coverage of the final.

"Possibly one of the hardest sports events I've ever covered. And I've done some tricky ones," he posted on LinkedIn.

"We had limited information about what was going on outside, my talkback (the umbilical cord to my production team) suddenly stopped working, the TV compound was impacted by the tear gas so our production team were barricaded in their trucks.

"And many of us had friends and family at the game and we had no idea if they were even safe. And amongst all that we were trying our best to get the tone right, under the scrutiny that seems exclusive to live football.

F**k me @GNev2 Is there nothing you’re not an expert on? I’ve worked with guys @btsport & they’re top pros as @mrjakehumphrey has said. Im quite certain Saturday was a challenging night for everyone. Just like covering the OT riot you instigated & covered badly at Sky 🤷‍♂️.

— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) May 30, 2022

"Hopefully you wouldn't have known too much about all that, the BT Sport production team are up there with the very best I have ever worked with."

Humphrey has also thanked Liverpool supporters for helping his parents who were caught up in the violence in Paris.

"Just a word of thanks to the people who helped my Mum and Dad at the game last night," he wrote on Twitter.

"Both in their 70s, both worries for their safety, and in my Mum's words 'all these wonderful young Liverpool supporters really looked after this old lady'. I'm hugely grateful."

Just a word of thanks to the people who helped my Mum and Dad at the game last night. Both in their 70’s, both worries for their safety, and in my Mum’s words “all these wonderful young Liverpool supporters really looked after this old lady”.

I’m hugely grateful. ❤️

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) May 29, 2022

UEFA and the French authorities have blamed the crowd trouble on Liverpool fans, with France's interior minister Gerald Darmanin claiming between 30,000 to 40,000 Reds supporters turned up to the Stade de France either without tickets or with counterfeits.

Those claims have been strongly disputed by Liverpool and a number of respected journalists who attended the match.

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has written an open letter to Darmanin demanding an apology, writing: "Your comments were irresponsible, unprofessional, and wholly disrespectful to the thousands of fans harmed physically and emotionally."

Liverpool have also requested a formal investigation into the crowd trouble that marred the final, which ended in a 1-0 win for Madrid.