Stewartry Liverpool fans witness "shambolic and dangerous" scenes at Champions League final

A group of Stewartry football fans witnessed “shambolic and dangerous” scenes at Saturday’s Champions League final in Paris.

Brian McArthur from Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright pals Malcolm Kirkwood, Richard Baty and David Mitchell attended the match to cheer on Liverpool against Real Madrid.

And they were shocked by what they witnessed before and after the UEFA final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

Some fans were denied entry despite having tickets, others were attacked by both locals and police while there were also transport issues.

Brian, 52, said: “It was shambolic and dangerous. I’ve never been to a football game like that.

“Normally there’s buses put on for a final but there was nothing - there was no thought or care.

“The police didn’t seem to be engaging the locals to stop things. They seemed to be protecting themselves. You didn’t even feel safe speaking to a policeman in case they just hit you.

“We were lucky nothing bad happened to us. We managed to keep our wits about us but if you’d been there with your wife or kids and you hadn’t managed to get a train or a bus you’d have been scared for your life.

“The atmosphere was horrendous. Liverpool fans weren’t causing any trouble, Real Madrid fans weren’t causing any trouble. It was just the locals.”

The four flew into Paris on Saturday morning and, after taking pictures at the Eiffel Tower, took a taxi to the stadium well before the 8pm kick-off.

They discovered there was no proper perimeter stopping people getting near to the ground.

Brian, a self-employed plumber, said: “The stadium is in one of the poorest bits of Paris and there were lots of young locals trying to mug you as soon as you took your wallet out and the police didn’t do anything.

“I showed