A Liverpool fan has told how his ticket to the Champions League final in Madrid was stolen on his way to the match, forcing him to sit out his team’s victory at a police station.
Mark Challinor, 57, was on the metro to the Wanda Metropolitano stadium when he claims his wallet was snatched from his pocket, containing bank cards, £300-worth of cash and his ticket to what would become Liverpool's sixth tournament win.
The lifelong Reds fans told the Standard how he had spent £500 on flights to the Spanish capital, only to lose out on witnessing his team achieve glory.
"I didn't even know we had won," the radio presenter said following the game.
Played against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday night, it marked the first all-English Champions League final since 2008 and Spurs’ first-ever time in the final two.
Mr Challinor, who is originally from Childwall, Merseyside, but now lives in London, said after arriving at the stadium he was forced to divert 20 minutes to the local police station to report his missing ticket.
After being told he would have to wait two hours before his statement could be taken, he headed to a nearby bar to watch the first half of the match.
Mr Challinor said when he returned to the station at around 10.30pm local time (9.30pm GMT) he thought it would be empty and that he would be “in and out quickly”.
"Sadly I was sat there for the whole of the second half and missed the game," he said. "I had no idea what was happening because I had no signal on my phones – I didn’t even know we had won.”
After the match, the deflated Liverpool fan rejoined his friend Stephen, with whom he’d travelled to Madrid.
“It was a sad moment for me because as I was walking towards the stadium, everyone else was walking away,” he said.
“I found my friend and we had a few beers back in the centre of the city. But all the celebrations were tinged because he said he hadn’t really enjoyed the game – partly because it wasn’t a very good game anyway, but also because he was alone in the stands without me there.”
The two had spent £500 on non-direct return flights to the Spanish city, with an outbound stop in Bordeaux, France, and an inbound stop in Casablanca, Morocco. “Either that or they would have cost £1,500,” Mr Challinor explained.
Further salt was rubbed into the Liverpool fan’s wound when found out no one had sat in his seat throughout the entire game.
“So whoever stole my wallet had no interest in football, they just wanted the money,” he said.
Mr Challinor added that he had bonded with some Spurs fans who had been hit by the same problem.
He said: "I bumped into a bunch of Tottenham fans who were in the exact same position as me.
“I really bonded with one particular guy – we became friends across the divide – him in a Tottenham shirt and me in a Liverpool shirt.
“We became buddies for the night, sharing our tales of woe. He’d had his passport stolen as well, and even though we were all down of course, I ended up feeling more sorry for him."
He added: “He told me: ‘Liverpool have been to a few finals before but this is our first time as Tottenham fans and could be our last. I’ve gone to all this effort and come all the way here on a coach, and I’ve got to get all the way back to the coach at 2am tonight – it’s about an hour outside Madrid – I don’t know how I’m going to do it’.”
Still, the media executive said the traumatic experience hadn’t put him off attending international matches in future.
“Apart from all that, it was great!” he joked.
“And you know what it’s like – if you go to a restaurant and you have a bad experience, you don’t go back.
“But with football, if you have a bad experience you’re still back the next week, supporting your team.”
