A DOWNPATRICK man has spoken of the horrors he witnessed in Paris whilst attending the Champions League final on Saturday.
Paul Keown made the trip to the famous Stade de France to watch his beloved Liverpool side take on Spanish giants Real Madrid to decide who would be champions of Europe.
However, by the end of the night Paul says: “no one cared about the biggest game in the calendar year, we just wanted to get home safe.”
What should have been a day the 46 year-old would never have forgot for what happened on the pitch, was forever tarnished and will be remembered for the controversy which took place outside of the stadium.
“My experience of the Champions League final in Paris was absolutely horrendous,” he said.
“Three friends and I flew into Brussels on Saturday morning then got the train to Paris. “There was 50,000 fans at the fan park there and the atmosphere was buzzing, although this was very much the highlight.
“I got to the ground at about 6.15pm hoping to get in nice and early but it took me over two hours to get to my seat,” he continued.
“This was all down to the heavy handedness of the French police. They wouldn’t let fans through, you had 20,000 fans trying to get through an area where they would only let eight through at a time.”
He added: “That was then compounded by the police vans who moved in and made that even smaller.”
The issues around the grounds have been well documented with initial reports indicating that it was the travelling Liverpool fans who caused the fracas which resulted in French police using brute force as well as teargas and pepper spray.
Children at the ground were also subject to these actions from the police, which left thousands horrified, injured and in a state of panic.
“Everybody started to feel the crush, children were crying, it was an absolutely horrendous situation to be put in,” recalled Paul.
“I was pretty lucky to get in just before they started pepper spraying innocent fans and teargassing fans.
“This was all down to hundreds of local youths who tried to storm the stadium, climbing over the fences and the narrative that this was Liverpool fans is completely wrong.”
Whilst madness ensued outside of the ground, officials from UEFA – who organise the competition – made the decision to delay kick-off by over half an hour.
The match finished with Real Madrid as victors after their player Vinícius Júnior scored the game’s only goal in the 59th minute.
However, the night still had more misery in store for the travelling fans as the controversy continued after the final whistle.
“After the game we were let out of the stadium and basically, none of the gates were open. Thousands of fans couldn’t get out of the actual grounds,” said Paul.
“It was madness, children were crying and supporters had to lift them onto their shoulders as we could all feel a crush.
“It was very intense, and it is nothing short of a miracle that there wasn’t any reported deaths.”
He continued: “Eventually when we did get out we couldn’t get down to the main train station and were held back by the police again with heavy handedness.
“It was midnight local time before we were moving again. They eventually shepherded us down a different route to another metro.
“This route was lined with probably a thousand or so young youths who were attacking the crowds, stealing their phones and displaying very, very threatening behaviour.”
The fear continued tenfold for Paul, who says he witnessed broken bottles and blood splatter on his way down the redirected route.
Despite the hostile situation, Paul – who is a design editor for the Belfast Telegraph – says that there was no rebuttal from the Liverpool and Real Madrid fans.
Instead, they were forced to comply with the threats posed to them by the local youths and were subject to mugging.
“I’m a father who brings his child to games, a ten year-old boy, and under no circumstances will I ever bring him to a final again for fear of what happened on Saturday night,” said Paul.
“Thankfully he wasn’t with me on this occasion or I don’t know what could have happened. I was at Wembley for the FA Cup final a few weeks ago and the contrast in organisation was night and day – there were no issues.”
He added: “It’s a disgrace, we want an apology and we want to be able to go to games and feel safe and enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, French authorities have blamed the events on what they cited as “industrial level fraud” referring to thousands of fans who allegedly turned up with fake tickets to gain entry – a claim in which Paul among the thousands of other Liverpool fans, have strongly denied.
The events have also raised question marks over future sporting events which are set to take place at the venue, with the 2024 Olympics the main concern at present.