Anfield StandUp for Danny Smith

2022 UEFA Champions League Final
Stade de France, Paris

18.00 PM / MAY 28, 2022

The Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid should have been one of last year’s great sporting showpieces - a meeting between two of European football’s aristocrats, in one of Europe’s grandest venues, in one of its finest cities, for arguably club football’s greatest prize.

Instead, the day turned into a nightmare for Liverpool Supporter Danny Smith.

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There were chaotic scenes as fans tried to enter Paris’ Stade de France, with a failed ticketing system and security operation resulting in dangerous crushes around the ground. Many innocent supporters were tear-gassed by police simply for being in the vicinity. After the match, meanwhile, hundreds of fans were subjected to random attacks by local gangs as they attempted to make their way back from the stadium to local transport hubs or hotels.

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The Athletic’s James Pearce spoke to Danny. This is his story.

Guy pretended to be a peacemaker. Then he hit me with a hammer

Danny Smith

The scars on Danny Smith’s left leg provide a permanent reminder of the night his life changed forever in Paris. Smith, a season-ticket holder on Anfield’s Kop, was the victim of a brutal attack outside the Stade de France moments after Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final last May. His knee was left shattered by a hammer as local youths rummaged through pockets and stole his possessions in front of his traumatised teenage son, Daniel.

On his return to Merseyside, Smith spent nine weeks in hospital and underwent two major operations. Intensive physio has helped him walk again but he remains in constant pain and hasn’t been able to work since. Speaking publicly about his ordeal for the first time, the 47-year-old told The Athletic how a dream trip turned into a nightmare.

The build-up with Jamie Webster in the fan park was brilliant — just like a European Cup final should be.”

The mood changed dramatically, however, as they approached the Stade de France. “We got off the metro at Saint-Denis about four hours before kick-off and then we walked to the bottom, by the motorway where fans were being funnelled in,” he says. “Police vans there made a narrow opening even narrower. It took us two hours just to get a couple of hundred metres. It started getting worse and worse. The police were just standing there with their rifles. The kids were getting frightened. Finally, we go through and you think, ‘That’s the worst of it over’. Little did we know that was just the beginning.

“We started bumping into people we knew who had been mugged already. My initial thought was, ‘Let’s just get inside’. But no one was being allowed into the stadium.

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“We stood there for ages. A crush ensued and I froze. I was at Hillsborough as a 14-year-old. I didn’t know what to do. A young lad from the Wirral said, ‘Give me him’ and put Daniel on his shoulders. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what would have happened to Daniel. I’m still wracked by guilt about that.”

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Yet this was just the start of the ordeal 

“We got a bit closer as they started to let people in but then the police started tear-gassing people. Everyone around us had tickets. It was just horrible seeing so many people in distress. I can remember hardly anything about the game. I’ve never watched it back and I don’t intend to.” 

After the final whistle, a friend who was there with his two teenage sons suggested they should all walk back to the metro via the Real Madrid end. Their thinking was that it would be quieter at that end of the stadium, given the majority of the Spanish contingent were still celebrating victory inside the stadium. 

“We were only just outside the stadium when we became aware that we were being followed,” Smith says. “About 10 of them in their early twenties were whistling and it was clear they wanted trouble. Then there was an ambush. About 50 came from different directions. A couple of them went to grab my bag. Daniel was trying to pull me one way, but I was worried about turning my back on these lads.

I was sitting up when another lad came at me to kick me in the face

Danny Smith

“Then another guy came alongside me pretending to be a bit of a peacemaker. I think it was him that hit me with the hammer. I just felt this agony in my leg and went down. I guess that’s his signature thing to incapacitate someone. They knew they had me where they wanted me and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I kept trying to get up but my knee kept giving way.

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“I was sitting up when another lad came running at me to kick me in the head. Thankfully, it just skimmed my face. Within seconds, my bag with my money in had gone, as well as my sunglasses, bracelet, and the watch the kids had bought me.

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“Daniel was shouting, he was terrified. Then they picked me up again, pretending to help. As soon as they did, hands went in every pocket taking everything else I had. Thank God, I’d left our passports at the hotel. When they realised I had nothing left they just dropped me on the ground in agony.

X-rays revealed he had suffered three tibial plateau fractures — breaks in the upper part of the tibia (the larger bone in the lower leg) that involves the knee joint. He was transferred to Aintree University Hospital for surgery the following day.

“The hospital couldn’t believe that I’d made it home like that. They rate knee injuries out of six in terms of severity and they said mine was a six. They basically had to rebuild my knee. I had about 15 pins and plates put in it. Then I had another operation a few weeks later. One of the nurses told me it was the longest leg operation they had done there — around seven hours. They opened it up and described my knee as like a box of Lego, bits everywhere. They said I was close to losing my leg. It was August before I got out.”

The love and support of son Daniel, 14, and daughter Holly, 18, gave him strength and his spirits were also raised by a surprise visit in hospital from Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher. Friends and family rallied round with fundraising efforts and Liverpool as a club have provided vital help.

“What a lad Carra is. He will never know how much that meant to me. It gave me a huge lift,” Smith says. “I’ve been so lucky with the support network around me. The wider Liverpool family have done so much. The club have been fantastic and Spirit Of Shankly (the supporters’ union) too. They were here 10am the morning after I got out of hospital. 

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“Friends set up an online page for donations and they had a match at City Of Liverpool (the non-League club) to help me pay my bills. I hate to think where I’d be without all that kindness. That’s meant I’ve been able to put everything into my rehab. The club kindly sorted out the physio for me and I can’t thank them enough.”