‘I feared for my life’: Liverpool fans on their Champions League final traumas

I am a survivor of the crush at Hillsborough in 1989; I was 23 then. I was unconscious in “pen” 4 on the terraces, and suffered three broken ribs. It was only through PTSD therapy many years later that I was able to recall what happened when I came to, how I survived and got out.

What we were put through in Paris has caused me further trauma; I’m now having therapy for PTSD from that. The point that triggered it was when we were stuck coming out of the subway under the A1. It was simply not designed to take thousands of people. That’s when I feared for my life, held in that queue to the checkpoint that was barely moving, with no way back and no way forward. Now I have flashbacks of that.

I want Uefa to be hauled over the coals for what happened and for all those responsible to be held accountable. What angers me most is that they put my son Cian in danger. He’s 17, I’ve been taking him to football since he was six; people were always saying it must be dangerous, but all these years he’s never been in danger until then, at the Champions League final in Paris.

I felt a risk of crushing as the queue moved under the bridge too, and was aware of gangs operating in the crowd. There were lots of police there, they created pinch points with their vans parked. I went up to them, saying: “Je suis dégoûté [I am disgusted].” I don’t know how I knew the right words in French. But they said nothing, just blank faces.

We reached the checkpoint at around 7.15, but nobody checked our tickets. Then we were held in queues at the turnstiles for two hours. When Uefa said kick-off was delayed “due to late arrival of fans”, the reaction outside was pure anger.

Even after we got into the game, all I could think of was how we were going to get