Horrifying Frankfurt fan experience in Seville detailed as Rangers nightmare matched amid kiosk chaos 

In the baking 35 degree heat, his friend had disappeared and not returned.  

Feeling ill from dehydration and the effects of exposure to the sun, the buddy had departed to get some fluids.

That had now been a concerning amount of time ago. 

The lack of water had clearly taken a devastating toll because there’s no way an Eintracht Frankfurt die-hard of many years would miss this one lightly. 

European finals don't come along every year after all.

With a shake of the head, Dittl laments: “It was the game of his life and he couldn’t even watch it.” 

If Rangers fans have been wondering about conditions in their Europa League final rival's half of the stadium, the lawyer is here to explain just how bad things would get. 

His story will likely feel rather familiar.  

READ MORE: Inside Europa League Final stadium nightmare as Rangers fan testimony exposes jaw-dropping UEFA failures

It begins with searches and moving through the stadium’s ring of steel security cordon. 

He said: “The search was quite strict and it was two searches. You had one after the first barrier. After our mobile ticket was activated you had the first search and then you went directly to the stadium.  

“Then there was another search. They found a lot. 

“They took nothing from me. I only had small things and it was no problem.” 

Many have wondered if Frankfurt fans faced as rigorous a search policy as those from Glasgow given the Germans were able to put on a spectacular pyrotechnic display in the second half. 

Dittl puts it down to the long-established ingenuity of the Ultras and suspects the flares were stashed in the stadium at some point prior to the game. 

“I don’t know how they did it! They are the same in Frankfurt (where pyro is not allowed) and nobody knows how they get it in.  

“Probably they find people who deposit it before, but I don’t know. 

“A friend of mine who is a smoker brought two lighters with him and they found one...” 

While the fastidious nature of the searches were unpleasant, the real problem with the organisation of this game lay with the total lack of enough drinking water given the heat.  

The vast majority of the food units remained shuttered in the Rangers end and it was the same on the ground’s opposite side. 

Dittl recalled: “When we arrived the kiosks were closed. Some guys told me they were selling drinks then closed it down. This was 40 minutes before the start of the game.  

“In the beginning, it was no big deal because I’d drank something before coming in but before long one of my friends began feeling sick. He said he wanted to go and look for some fluids. He came back after 30 minutes and hadn’t found anything but was told they would open kiosks at half-time.  

“Five minutes later, he left to go so he would be the very first one at the kiosk when it opened. At half-time and we noticed some people had come back with water but there was no sign of him.  

“We were wondering why he didn’t return and he sent us a message saying he was so ill he had to go to a doctor. There were some medical help stations at the stadium. He went there and he said he was staying and didn’t know if he was coming back or not.  

“He was feeling really ill. All through a lack of water.” 

And this poor fan wasn’t the only one starting to succumb to unrelenting thirst. 

“When one of my friends went outside to look for him he realised there was such a lot of people standing in front of the kiosks that he told us there was no chance of us getting anything.  

“So we stood for 90 minutes with no fluids and by that time I was really aching for water. 

“I went to find some and I was standing before the kiosk and it was closed again. The stewards said they were really sorry but they couldn’t help. I wasn’t the only one. There were 10 or 20 people shouting at them that they needed something to drink. I have never experienced something like this before.  

“Some people were coming out of the toilets. They had been looking to use taps to refill their bottles but the water had stopped.

"I went back to my seat and it was quite crazy because after two minutes some people appeared with water. I asked where they got it and they said outside at the kiosk. I went back and it was still closed.

"I tried to ask what was going on and someone pointed at a package and said it was water. They stood it in front of the crowd and people were like animals getting the water. It was like a fight to get some. In one minute the water was all gone.  

“Then suddenly a door opened and some police arrived walking next to a carriage with some more packs. Stewards and police were taking good care of it and were moving it to the next kiosk down. All the people were following closely behind. They went to this other kiosk and somehow, I ended up in the first row. 

“The police told us to get back and said ‘Don’t you dare come close to us.’ 

“People were telling the kiosk staff they would pay €100 for the package of bottles. They were saying, ‘you don’t need to unpack them, just give us the case.’ Everybody would have been prepared to pay anything to get the water. 

“These young workers began unpacking it but they were so slow. Everybody told them to rush but they didn’t.  

“Then they tried to open the kiosk but it didn’t work. The cash machine wasn’t functioning. We were yelling at the police but we were not quite sure if we were going to get arrested if you did one thing too much. 

“I knew the game was going on and I was thinking, ‘Am I going to miss a goal here?’.  

“They ended up taking cash just to get started. He told me it was €3 a bottle but when I said I wanted two bottles he said they had no change so I just took three bottles and said to keep the change on a €10 note.  

“I was quite happy to get back with three bottles and we drank them in a minute. That helped and the rest of the game was fine.” 

As was the case for many Rangers fans, it wasn’t an easy fix outside the ground to quickly hydrate after departing the stadium. 

He said: “After the game it was late. There was a lot of people around so we decided to take side streets in the hope of finding a little shop. We struggled because everything was closed.  

“In one street a very nice woman opened her window and gave us some water in plastic cups. 

“She didn’t want any money. She had heard about the problem.  

“A lot of people gave her some money anyway just because it was so nice of her.

"That was the first water some people had got for hours.“ 

Dittl, a lecturer in sports law at a Frankfurt University, believes the collegiate nature of the rivalry between the two sets of fans was the saving grace that prevented serious trouble.  

He added: “It was really friendly. There was no problem between the two sets of fans at all.  

“That was the best thing that could have happened for this game because if it had been rivals, the situation could have been a bigger problem.” 

The Rangers Review understands that a number of prominent fans in Frankfurt are investigating the possibility of a joint legal action against UEFA to hold the governing body's feet to the fire for their inept handling of the game. 

Aware that difficulties occurred in both ends, individuals involved have reached out to prominent Rangers fans to join in the potential action as they decide which is the best legal route to pursue.