A Liverpool fan who escaped from pen three at Hillsborough said he suffered with a panic attack after being caught up in dangerous and chaotic scenes in Paris on Saturday.
Chris Peers was just 14 when he witnessed the horrors of the 1989 disaster, having managed to narrowly avoid the crush that killed 97 Liverpool supporters. Now aged 48, he has experienced anxiety ever since.
Chris was one of thousands of Reds fans caught up in the scenes outside the Stade de France on Saturday as French police forced supporters into a dangerous bottleneck before attacking them with tear gas and pepper spray. He said the situation brought back painful memories and feelings.
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The dad-of-one, who works in HR, told the ECHO: "At a couple of points it really felt like we were just a mis-step from disaster. I think we were lucky that didn't happen, we were really close." He added: "The Liverpool fans were being really sensible, not pushing forward, everyone stayed calm."
Chris said he and others were held in the first bottleneck for around 90 minutes, with French police laughing at their concerns. When he eventually got through to the stadium concourse he realised he was in another dangerous situation, with gates closed and crowds building up against the fences. At this point he said he began to experience a panic attack.
He said: "I started to feel cold, tight chested and my legs and hands started shaking, I told my friends I had to get out of there so moved away to a calmer area and sat down." Chris eventually got inside the stadium around 10 minutes after kick-off, separated from his friends and unable to focus on or enjoy the match.
He added: "When we were 1-0 down there was obviously a big part of me that wanted us to score, but another part didn't want to be in there any longer. I was basically waiting for the match to end and hoping my uncontrollable leg shaking would end."
There were problems on the way out too, with gates locked and tear gas being deployed by police again. Chris eventually found his friends and they managed to navigate their way around waiting French gangs to get back to their hotel.
Chris was in pen three at Hillsborough with his dad, grandad and uncles. He explained: "We were really lucky, we got out before the main crush. I remember my dad saying 'I've got a really bad feeling about this' and getting us out of there."
He added: "There were a couple of moments on Saturday where those memories crossed my mind and things started to feel really familiar. When I got home, my wife said 'you were 14 at Hillsborough and have never spoken to a single counsellor or health specialist' and she has a point. Last weekend has brought everything so close to home again."
Chris, who is originally from Liverpool and now lives near Burton-upon-Trent, said he is now thinking about speaking to a counsellor about his anxiety. He said: "It isn't something we spoke about back then, I think I owe it to my family to do it. I'm not sure if I will go to another European away match, it's something I will need to speak with my family about."
