A Manchester City fan is in hospital after suffering serious injuries in Madrid following the Champions League semi-final. Stephen Hunt, a 25-year-old dad-of-two, needs surgery after sustaining a suspected bleed on the brain as well as fractured eye socket, broken nose and broken jaw.
He has no memory of what happened but his family fear he was viciously set upon after becoming separated from friends. He had travelled out to Madrid to meet some pals who had tickets for the game, which City lost 3-1 after extra time.
Stephen, who runs his own fencing business and is engaged, was unable to get a ticket and decided to watch the game in a bar near the Bernabeu. His mother Dawn Reid said he has no recollection of how he came to be injured, and the next thing he remembered was waking up in hospital.
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Stephen, from Rochdale, posted on Facebook thanking well-wishers for their support and said he just wanted to come home. Dawn is due to fly out to Madrid tomorrow morning following a frantic and terrifying few hours after learning of her son's condition.
She initially received a message at about 11.30pm that he was in hospital. "We heard nothing from 11.30pm to 3.30am. I rang the consulate, I rang the police, I rang everywhere, I rang all the hospitals in Madrid trying to find anything, but it was all in Spanish and I couldn't understand them," she told the M.E.N.
"Stephen rang me at 3.30am crying saying 'I'm in hospital, I've got a bleed on my brain, they are taking me to theatre'. As a mum I was hysterical at this point."
Dawn said that a planned operation to treat a suspected bleed on the brain has been halted to await the results of a further CT scan. He is due to undergo surgery tomorrow for his other injuries, but Dawn takes comfort from the fact she will be there when he wakes up.
Dawn added: "My head's just been in a whirlwind, my phone's not stopped all day. I don't even know how I'm functioning. I don't know how I feel, I just feel like I need to be there.
"I'm one of the lucky ones, my son's still alive. There's people out there who don't make it, it could have been worse. It's just a scary thought."
Dawn said she doesn't know whether her son was wearing City colours last night. "He said all he remembers is leaving the pub and that was it, he woke up at in the hospital. He was oblivious, he doesn't know what has happened.
"They have given him a really good kicking. It's scandalous, I feel sick. He is mumbling because he can't move his mouth to speak, he's in a lot of pain.
"I could understand if it was a gang of lads, like a football gang. But it was just a lad on his own, walking back to his hotel, vulnerable and on his own.
"He's not got a fight in him, he's passive, he's more of a happy go lucky person, he'll have a laugh, he'll get on karaoke and sing away. That's his personality, he's not got anything nasty or vicious in him."
Dawn attempted to fly out to Madrid this morning but said she was unable to make the 10am flight, with no others available from Manchester. She is due to fly out tomorrow morning to be at her son's bedside.
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