One of those unfortunate enough to run into a group of Russians over the weekend was none other than Joey Barton, a man who once raised eyebrows by describing himself - without irony - as a pacifist.
"I ran into the Russians in action myself earlier in the day and it was a scary sight,” Barton told the Daily Record. “They were clearly highly organised. They operated like a military group.
"I was with two of my pals, one of whom had his young lad with him - a five-year-old boy. We could sense there was going to be trouble so I thought I'd try to lead them away using the back streets that I know from living here.
"We used underground Metros to try to get away from the problem areas but as I came up the stairs of one station I just ran into this gang. They weren't even in the main streets, they were running round the back streets because they were trying to cut the English fans off.
"But thankfully, they weren't interested in us. There was 40 or 50 of them and they were looking for groups of England fans. They weren't picking people off in ones or twos. Fortunately, my mates and I weren't wearing any England kit, just the little lad. We walked right through the middle of them and there was
no animosity or hostility."
Lucky escape for Barton. Other England fans weren’t as lucky. Some suffered serious injuries, including Andrew Bache, who was hit several times with an iron bar.
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