Liverpool Fans Shove Old Man Into A Fountain, Generally Wreak Havoc At Barcelona Plaza

This should go without saying, but if you are part of a group of traveling soccer fans, please do not push elderly people into fountains. That’s a lesson not learned by a group of Liverpool fans in Barcelona for the Champions League semifinal, who played true to stereotypes by rampaging through the Catalan city, causing mayhem and insulting the populace.

The most vivid example of this is a video that made the rounds on Twitter on Tuesday showing someone shoving an old man into a fountain at the Plaça Reial, with red-clad fans calling the man “Mr. Miyagi” and cackling:

The old guy wasn’t the only bystander to suffer the moronic wrath of what appears to be the same fan, who also dunked another man into the water:

According to , six Liverpool fans were detained by Barcelona police in connection to the incident, which devolved into fans throwing beer cans at police officers when they descended on the plaza to break up the hooliganism. The mayhem was not contained to the plaza, either. At a nearby hotel, Liverpool fans reportedly attacked two hotel workers, leaving them in need of medical attention, according to . Two other people were injured in the fighting, with one coming away with a broken nose.

Liverpool CEO Peter Moore put out a statement on Twitter after the incident, lightly condemning the actions without addressing them specifically:

The club itself also put out a statement on its website, using harsher words (“clearly totally unacceptable” and “will not be tolerated” is more effective than a plea for respect) and promising to work with both Merseyside Police and Spanish authorities to identify the culprits.

While not as destructive as the England/Russia kerfuffle in Marseille during the 2016 Euros, Tuesday’s incident seems in some way worse due to its complete one-sidedness. At least in Marseille, fans were fighting each other. Pushing an old man into a fountain and then racially abusing him, throwing beer cans at police, and attacking hotel workers is a sure way to not just wreak havoc, but also to continue the age-old stereotype that English tourists, soccer ones especially, are the worst.