Cunning fresher blags his way into the Champions League final for free
All he had was a home-made pass and hi vis jacket
Jack CummingsAn on the ball football fan snuck his way into the Champions League final by strolling right past security dressed as a builder.
Savvy student Anraoi Rooney, 19, fooled officials by throwing on a high-vis jacket and carrying a bogus contractor’s pass at the big game in Berlin last Saturday.
And nobody suspected a thing, as the Dublin City University fresher caught the whole match, watching Barcelona batter Juventus 3-1.
Anroi – whose name is pronounced Awnree Rooney, and appears to be named after two footballing legends – failed at making fake tickets.
But the 19-year-old – who is interrailing across Europe – came up with a far sneakier plan.
He told the Herald: “We printed off the tickets before we went but they were pretty terrible and I didn’t think we had a chance, especially when I saw what the real tickets looked like when we got out there.
“Ours were green with a beer logo, but the real ones were dark navy.”
But not one to let a dodgy ticket hold him back from seeing Messi and company tear it up on the pitch, Anraoi crafted a pretend contractor pass.
He said: “I brought a hi-vis jacket with me and decided to give it a go.
“My friend didn’t have one so he didn’t make it past the first barrier, but I just kept going.”
Anraoi’s fake contractor pass
Anraoi reckons it’s all about your game face, and with a confident nod he strolled past the stewards.
“I kept waiting for a tap on the shoulder but it didn’t come.
“There was another set of stewards scanning barcodes on the tickets at turnstiles.”
But his makeshift disguise paid off and the student from Dublin made it inside.
“The ground was absolutely packed so I just stood on the steps to watch the game.”
Brave Anraoi was the only one of his mates who got away with it, and had to leave the rest of the group behind.
“My friend James just went back to the pub with the rest of the lads and watched the game from there.”
He said they had seen signs around the Olympiastadion from people who were willing to pay a staggering €3,500 (£2544) for tickets – so he felt extremely lucky to get into the game.
Anraoi added: “I’m trying not to gloat but it’s kind of hard not to.
“It keeps coming up somehow.”