Spirits were high in the French capital ahead of the Champions League final on Saturday as the sound of Allez Allez Allez rang through the air.
But what was supposed to be one of the biggest nights of the season soon turned into a nightmare - and one that many Liverpool fans would prefer to forget. UEFA has commissioned an independent report into the scenes that unfolded outside Stade de France on Saturday, May 28, which included men, women and children being tear-gassed and pepper sprayed by police.
Here the ECHO speaks to three Liverpool fans who were caught up in the chaos before and after the match.
READ MORE: Liverpool fans protected my son
'I was blinded by tear gas and robbed'
Phil Conway, 28, from Runcorn, arrived at the Stade de France on Saturday to find the gate that was printed on his ticket was closed. After joining a queue for a different gate, Phil was ushered through the turnstile by a steward without having to scan his ticket, which he got in the Liverpool ballot.
For Phil, it was after the match that things took a dark turn when he was mugged by a gang as he made his way to the train station. Phil told the ECHO: "I was waiting for my friends outside of the stadium by the bottom of the steps, by that time my eyes just started to burn.
"I looked to my left and I could see the police were just tear gassing fans leaving the ground. I decided to leave at that point on my own to get back to the station to just get out of the area essentially.
"I was with a group of 30 or 40 Liverpool fans who were all walking in the same direction. There was no trouble being caused."
Phil said riot police were stood to the right of the group and suddenly moved in front of them and started firing tear gas in their direction. He said: "They just tear gassed us for no reason, it just seemed to be an effort to move us on.
"By that point I was blind from the tear gas, I couldn't see anything. I managed to find someone selling water on the side of the street and managed to wash some of it out of my eyes. I was still unable to see properly.
"When I got close to the station I was then robbed. A French lad robbed my phone out of my pocket."
As he tried to get the man to give him his phone back, which was his only way of accessing money and getting back to his hotel, Phil said two other men grabbed him from behind and started to kick and punch him.
He said: "I fell to the floor, that's when they grabbed my arm to try and get my watch off - I've got massive bruises on my arms. They were just holding me down. I was thinking in the back of my mind 'if I don't get that phone back I'm literally knackered.'
"I was going to try and get it back at all costs but in hindsight I shouldn't have gone after them. They could have had knives or anything. You're scared, you don't know what to do."
Phil said he was unable to get his phone back off the gang but he would like to thank another Liverpool fan who witnessed what happened and gave him fifty euros to help him get back to his hotel.
'I lost the will by that point I didn't want to go into the stadium'
Another Liverpool fan who was caught up in the distressing scenes at Stade de France on Saturday was Kevin Hayes from Runcorn. The 53-year-old bought his ticket in the Liverpool ballot but after what he witnessed outside the stadium Kevin and his two friends made the difficult decision not to go inside to watch the match.
Kevin arrived at the stadium around two hours before kick off and got to the front of the queue for gate Y at around 9pm. He told the ECHO: "What I witnessed was just disgusting. The people that didn't get though from the gate into the turnstile - if there tickets didn't scan they threw them back into the crowd."
Kevin said these "heavy handed" tactics caused a crush to start forming in the queue as people were thrown back into the crowd. He said: "I was pinned against the railings and tear gas went off in front of us and gassed us. [Police] were coming along pepper spraying us basically."
Kevin said the other Liverpool fans in the queue were "brilliant" and moved back to make room for the people who were getting crushed in the crowd. He added: "I lost the will by that point I didn't want to go into the stadium, I didn't want to see the game, I wasn't interested in the result.
"Me and my friends went back into Paris, found a bar and caught the second half. The Real Madrid fans that were in there were absolutely fantastic with us - they knew what going on. It was a relief to honest to be out of that crowd."
The kick-off for the final on Saturday was delayed three times with thousands of empty seats in the Liverpool end of the ground. Liverpool have already requested a formal investigation over what supporters were subjected to before the match.
Fans arrived back at car to find window smashed with brick
For Liverpool fan Tommy Mcallister, 44, from Walton, and his friends, it was after the match that things took a turn for the worst.
Tommy told the ECHO: "We were walking with Liverpool fans, going down this pathway and the police just came running over to us - there must have been 200 of them at least, so we all moved over to the right hand side. They had CS gas, I could smell it in the air and then I got it on my back."
After walking away from the police officers, Tommy said a gang of local men approached them and started throwing bottles and spitting in their direction. He said: "I saw people with sticks, someone was hit with a bottle - because this was going on we were just walking as fast as we can."
As they tried to track down where they had parked their car, Tommy said a gang of local men tried to steal his phone but thankfully he managed to get it back. However, on arriving back at the car the group discovered the window had been smashed with a brick which was on the backseat.
Tommy claims his friend tried to report the incident to French police but they "were not interested" in what had happened, meaning he's now unable to make a claim through his insurance policy. The group were left with no option but to drive home to catch the ferry after the match with a smashed window.
Tommy added: "You pay a lot of money to go there and you end up with an experience like that, it's just totally shocking. I'm still shaking."
On Monday, LFC issued a request to all supporters who attended the final at Stade de France. The club said: "Liverpool FC is asking supporters who attended the Champions League final in Paris to complete a feedback form in order to support the investigation into the operational management of the event.
"The club officially requested a formal and transparent investigation into the issues supporters faced in and around Stade de France, before and after kick-off."
The form can be accessed online here and will also be sent via email directly to supporters who purchased a ticket for the game. Liverpool also thanked fans in advance for taking the time to complete the form.
