A Red Army of Liverpool football fans began to arrive in Paris today as 6,000 French police prepared to welcome them for the European Cup Final.
A massive security operation swung into operation on Friday, in time for kick off against Spanish Champions Real Madrid on Saturday night.
‘We expect upwards of 60,000 Liverpool fans alone to come, and about two-thirds will be without tickets,’ said a local police spokesman.
‘There will be less from Madrid, but both sets of supporters will be encouraged to use fan zones and to respect others enjoying the city this weekend’.
The police confirmed that 6,000 police and gendarmes would be on the streets of the French capital over the weekend.
Many of the Liverpool faithful in the centre of the city had come from thousands of miles away, including the United States and South America.
‘We had to be here, and started to make plans before the semi-final,’ said Arash Shahideh, a 57-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
‘I’ve supported Liverpool all my life, and get to Anfield as much as I can,’ said Mr Shahideh, who was with his sons, Kia Shahideh, 26, and Ata Shahideh, 23.
‘We’ve flown over for a long weekend, and all of us have tickets, thankfully. We’re hoping for a 2-1 win for Liverpool.’
Liverpudlians Ben Hines, 23, Ben Lee, 22 and Chris McCarthy, 20, had flown into from their home city and were showing off a red flag reading ‘Liverpool FC : Wherever You Go, I Go’.
All are loyal and experienced fans who have followed their club all over the world, so had little trouble organising a successful trip.
‘We managed to find a studio to stay in for less than £200 for the weekend, and two of us have tickets so far,’ said Mr Hines, who is a veteran of epic finals including Liverpool’s game against Real Madrid in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2018.
‘There were a lot of flight cancellations from Liverpool when we came over to Paris this time round, but we were very lucky, and weren’t affected,’ Mr Hines added.
Rowan Poudley and Annan Parmar, two 19-year-olds from Bristol, were determined to be in Paris for the atmosphere.
Both are students on their gap year – Mr Poudley is off to Liverpool University to study Criminology, and Mr Parmar will be reading Politics at Birmingham.
‘Neither of us have tickets, but that won’t stop us enjoying the game,’ said Mr Parmar. ‘We managed to find a decent place to stay out of the city, and public transport has been pretty good so far.’
Kathalina Sanchez, 35, is from Colombia and a massive fan of Liverpool’s star Colombian striker, Luis Diaz.
‘I just hope he can score on Satuday,’ said Ms Sanchez, who was with friends from Lyon, eastern France, where she is currently working.
‘I’ve been a supporter of Liverpool since I was a little girl, as my dad was a big fan. I started out loving Michael Owen and my captain, Stevie Gerrard, and now I love players like Diaz and Sadio Mané.’
Dror Moran, a 55-year-old Israeli, flew in especially for the game, along with his son, Ido Moran, 22.
‘I’ve been a Liverpool fan for more than 40 years, since the 1970s,’ said Mr Moran. ‘We’ve managed to get tickets through UEFA, and accommodation too. We’re hoping that Liverpool can win 2-1’.