Kyiv’s brilliant hosting of the UEFA Champions League final has left thousands of visiting soccer fans with fond memories of the Ukrainian capital.
But it also produced some amusing stories that many won’t forget for a long time.
One of them involves a Norwegian supporter of Liverpool, who went missing after the final game – although the story didn’t start out in funny way.
The fan’s friends reported to Kyiv Police late in the evening on May 26 that he had gone missing in Kyiv’s Podil neighborhood.
Fortunately, on May 27 Kyiv Department of National Police reported that the Norwegian had been found safe and sound, although not quite sober.
A Norwegian supporter of Liverpool, who went missing after the final game on May 26, poses for a photo in Kyiv’s Pechersk District Police Department on May 27. (Courtesy of National Police)
“A Kyiv resident called the police the next morning after the final and said he found a foreigner, highly intoxicated, near Klovska Metro station (in Pecherskiy district) and took him home for the night so that nothing bad would happen to the tourist,” the police reported on its website, posting a picture of the Reds fan as a proof on May 27.
The Kyiv Post contacted the police press service in order to find out whether the wayward Norwegian had left for home safely.
The press service said that it released him soon after police had taken him to the Pechersk District of Kyiv Police Department for identification.
A drunken tattoo
If a person wakes up the next day after a party with an unexpected tattoo, it means usually two things: the party was good, but the tattoo is probably bad.
That was what a Liverpool fan feared at first when he woke up on a bench in one of Kyiv’s parks with the tattoo in Ukrainian on his left forearm on May 27.
His friend Geraint Thomas posted a picture of the tattoo that the fan sent him from Kyiv in the Kyiv Free Couch for football fans Facebook group.
“My friend woke up with this tattoo this morning, anyone knows what it means?” Thomas wrote, posting a picture of the tattoo – an inscription that reads “Ти ніколи не будеш іти один»
Fortunately, this sentence is a direct translation of the title of the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the Broadway hit musical “Carousel” which is Liverpool’s club anthem.
Kyivans rushed to calm Thomas and his friend in the comments section, some congratulating him on his choice of tattoo.
“He woke up on a park bench, so I don’t think he made a very informed tattoo choice,” Thomas wrote.
Good impression
The Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported that more than 25,000 football fans left Kyiv for their home countries the day after the final, with Kyiv’s airports seeing one of their busiest days of the year.
In total, more than 53,000 fans attended the epic final on Olympiyskiy Stadium, where Spanish team Real Madrid beat the U.K.’s Liverpool 3-1 on May 26.
But by all accounts, that score didn’t spoil the good impression of Kyiv, its people, cuisine and culture left with Liverpool fans.
Hundreds of Kyivans, including Ukrainian lawmakers Yegor Soboliev and Yegor Firsov, hosted football fans for free after local hotels jacked up prices steeply ahead of the final, leaving some foreigners facing huge travel costs.
Editor’s Note: If you have any funny stories from Kyiv’s Champions League weekend, please tell them in this article’s comments section.
