The friend of the fan who was stabbed has since spoken about the event, revealing the moments that led up to the attack. Speaking to The Telegraph, Adam said: “A group of seven of us who had just had pizza in a restaurant went to the Kitebeer pub and had two drinks. None of us were in Chelsea colours, nothing blue, or singing any songs. We decided to go to another pub where a few of our other friends were about a 10-minute walk away. Everything was good-natured, we weren’t being loud or talking about Chelsea.
“Unfortunately, we turned down a side street on the way to the pub and there was a group of about 30 ultras. They weren’t wearing Napoli shirts and about half of them had their faces covered. Straight away they started shouting ‘where are you from?’ and everyone knew it was dangerous.
“The guys at the front started running and, unfortunately, they grabbed Marcus by his shoulder and started talking to him. He didn’t think anything was happening and then all of a sudden he’d been stabbed in the leg. It was with a screwdriver, rather than a knife, but it obviously caused him a lot of pain. Another one of our mates had his coat sliced. It was terrifying and you start to think the worst, that you’re all going to end up getting stabbed.
“We were probably running for about a mile and a half because some of them started chasing us and, fortunately, Marcus was able to run with his injury. We luckily ran into some police officers who were patrolling the corner of a street. The police took all of our information and called Marcus an ambulance, which came after about five minutes. I’m staying in the same hotel as Marcus, so I stayed at the hospital with him and we got out at about 4am.”
A statement from Chelsea released to social media read: “The club is aware of an incident that took place on Tuesday evening in Naples. Two fans are being treated in hospital, having sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The club would like to remind all supporters to exercise extreme caution whilst in the city and take note of the advice shared ahead of this fixture.”
It isn’t the first time violence has marred one of the Italian side’s Champions League clashes this season, as clashes erupted between fans ahead of Napoli vs Sporting. Supporters of both clubs were seen throwing missiles at each other, including chairs, bottles and metal chains. Meanwhile, similiar disorder took place when Napoli hosted Eintracht Frankfurt back in 2023.