Chelsea fan details terrifying moment they were attacked by Napoli hooligans

A group of Chelsea supporters were attacked on the eve of the Blues’ final league stage game of this year’s Champions League against Napoli in Italy

A Chelsea fan has recalled the harrowing encounter with Napoli ultras that saw his friend stabbed with a screwdriver ahead of the Blues’ Champions League tie in Naples on Wednesday night.

Liam Rosenior’s side travel to Italy for their final league stage fixture of their Champions League campaign. The Blues’ new head coach will pit his wits against another coach who is no stranger to the Stamford Bridge dugout in Antonio Conte in a match which is expected to be attended by 2,500 Chelsea supporters.

Among them is Aadam, a 23-year-old who travelled to Italy with his friend, Marcus. Aadam, who chose not to give his last name, was part of a group of seven Chelsea supporters who were ambushed in a side street on Tuesday night. Marcus was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, while another fan from the same hotel had his coat ripped by a sharp object in the incident.

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“A group of seven of us who had just had pizza in a restaurant went to the Kitebeer pub and had two drinks,” Aadam told The Telegraph. “None of us were in Chelsea colours, nothing blue, or singing any songs.

“We decided to go to another pub where a few of our other friends were about a 10-minute walk away. Everything was good-natured, we weren’t being loud or talking about Chelsea.

“Unfortunately, we turned down a side street on the way to the pub and there was a group of about 30 ultras. They weren’t wearing Napoli shirts and about half of them had their faces covered. Straight away they started shouting ‘where are you from?’ and everyone knew it was dangerous.

“The guys at the front started running and, unfortunately, they grabbed Marcus by his shoulder and started talking to him. He didn’t think anything was happening and then all of a sudden he’d been stabbed in the leg. It was with a screwdriver, rather than a knife, but it obviously caused him a lot of pain. Another one of our mates had his coat sliced. It was terrifying and you start to think the worst, that you’re all going to end up getting stabbed.”

He continued: “We were probably running for about a mile and a half because some of them started chasing us and, fortunately, Marcus was able to run with his injury. We luckily ran into some police officers who were patrolling the corner of a street.

“The police took all of our information and called Marcus an ambulance, which came after about five minutes. I’m staying in the same hotel as Marcus, so I stayed at the hospital with him and we got out at about 4am.”

Chelsea have been in touch with Aadam and Marcus since the incident and the club also released a strong statement on Tuesday evening after news of the attack spread.

Travelling fans have been urged not to wear Chelsea colours or travel alone ahead of the game, while a free shuttle service – complete with a police escort – will ferry fans to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

The incident has left Aadam and his friend debating whether or not to attend Wednesday night’s game, though. “We’re thinking about whether or not to go,” he said. “We’ve both been shaken up by what happened and now we just don’t know how safe it will be.

“I’ve travelled with Chelsea in Europe before and never had anything like this, home or away, so we’ll see how we feel. We were due to stay in Naples until Saturday, but we’ll probably just get a train up to Rome tomorrow and spend the rest of our time there. This is our first time in Naples and it will probably be my last. It will make me think twice about which cities I go to for games in future.”

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