Barcelona fans attack their own team’s bus by mistake
Barcelona football fans mistakenly lobbed ‘stones, missiles’ and insults at their own team’s bus yesterday in the Catalan capital.
The team took on Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for the Champions League quarter-final only to be thrashed 4-1.
And it seems Barca rolling into the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium was a sign of how the match was going to turn out.
Flares greeted a bus hours before the game that fans were convinved was packed with PSG players.
Passeig Olímpic was engulfed by thick smoke and a red haze from countless firecrackers and smoke bombs set off by the Catalan fans.
As they chanted ‘P*** PSG’ (‘F*** PSG’) and ‘die Vinicius’, referring to the Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior who has been subjected to racit abuse throughout his time in Spain, fans threw objects at the coach.
Spanish sports national MARCA reported that flares had been hurled, while Footmercato said stones were also chucked.
Police were forced to intervene, armed with batons as they tried to clear the road by pushing the rowdy fans onto the pavement.
But as the bus doors opened, the faces of the Barcelona fans may have blushed as red as their flares.
PSG wasn’t on board, it was their own players, including superstars Robert Lewandowski and Frenkie de Jong.
We guess the word ‘Barcelona’ on the front of the coach, the massive club badge and ‘BARCA’ written on the side didn’t give it away.
More than 350 officers, including SWAT teams, had swarmed the stadium ahead of the 9pm kick off, Catalan News reported.
A PSG fan was arrested after scuffling with a rival fan at around 5pm near Plaça Espanya.
Spain’s terrorism alert level stands at four out of five after ISIS-related groups called for violent attacks against several Champions League matches last week.
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