A Brighton fan has described a horror attack in Rome which saw him jumped and two of his friends stabbed as they enjoyed a night out ahead of tonight’s Europa League game.
Joey Thorpe, 27, had been at a bar in the Italian capital with five friends when he said he was jumped from behind and beaten up by the masked assailants.
It comes after Italian police confirmed that two British tourists in their 20s had been stabbed and robbed in the historic Monti district of the city.
Speaking to MailOnline, Joey said: ‘I got jumped first, there were these kids following us and I got jumped first… They were pumping me in the head, kicking me in the ribs and just hammering me.’
Joey said his terrified friends fled as he was being attacked, but that the gang of six or seven youths chased after them and also attacked two of his friends, mugging them at knifepoint.
After the horrific ordeal, Joey said he and his friends are too scared to go out in the city before or after tonight’s clash with Roma, saying it is the worst place he has been to for a match and urging fellow fans to ‘stay safe’.
Joey Thorpe, 27, had been at a bar in the Italian capital with five friends when he said he was jumped from behind and beaten up by the masked assailants
Brighton fans have been arriving in the Italian capital over the past few days to cheer on their side. Pictured: An Albion supporter outside the Colosseum, shared on the club’s X account
Police were called to the historic area of Rome last night after a restaurant waiter raised the alarm, and found two men with stab wounds.
The pair were robbed of a belt bag containing their identity documents and wallets, and were rushed to hospital to be treated for their injuries, said to be ‘minor stab wounds’ to their thighs.
Joey said his friends, who he described as a ‘well-behaved group’, had not been being rowdy and were not wearing Brighton and Hove Albion colours during the night out.
But, he said referring to the muggers: ‘They’ve obviously heard that we’re English, and just put two and two together and just gone for it… it can be quite dangerous.’
He said that the police were called and his friends were rushed to hospital with stab injuries, while he only suffered internal bruising and other minor injuries.
‘The police didn’t wanna know and never saw basically blaming us, which is obvious, because that was always gonna happen,’ he said. ‘Because we’re in a foreign country. they’re just going to blame us.’
‘We weren’t chanting or anything, we’d just come out of the pub. We’d had a few drinks, but we were just being as normal as possible,’ he said.
Ahead of tonight’s last 16 clash with Roma, he said that he is worried for his safety and that of other fans.
File image shows Italian police at the Stadio Olimpico, where tonight’s last 16 match is being held
‘I’m quite nervous today. The day should be okay because there’s a lot of tourists, but I feel like when it gets closer to kick-off, it could get very nervy.’
The local college premises manager said he and his friends will still be going to tonight’s match but will not be heading out for a drink before or after.
‘We are going to come straight back to our hotel later after the game,’ he said. ‘We’re not going out in Rome at all, we are just staying in and around the hotel.’
‘Before we are going to stay in and around the hotel, have a few drinks in there and then go to the game. It’s not worth it.’
Brighton and Hove Albion are set to play Roma on Thursday evening at Rome’s Olympic Stadium (file image)
The Albion fan said he has previously been to a match in Marseille, and while he said the French city ‘was quite sketchy, and you had a little bit of trouble,’ it was ‘nothing like what’s happening’ in Rome.
‘Nothing like that has ever happened to me, I’d never been anywhere near anything like that at any other football game or anything.’
‘It’s just a game of football, it’s crazy… We’re a very well-behaved group, so for it to happen to us is quite a shock.’
He said he and his friends can’t go home until Friday, but said he hopes that they will stay safe in the meantime if they ‘all stick together’.
A FCDO spokesperson said: ‘We are providing assistance to two British people who were attacked in Rome and are in contact with the local authorities.’
