Teenager admits he invaded pitch during Champions League final as part of prank to get £300k from Russian influencer
A TEENAGER has admitted to "foolishly" invading a football pitch during the Champions League final at Wembley in June.
The unnamed 16-year-old said he ran onto the field just before 8pm kick off after a Russian influencer offered him £300,000 for the prank.
Russian streamer Andrey Burim was dubbed the "real villain" after reports surfaced that he offered three pitch invaders hundreds of thousands of pounds to do the same thing.
The teen appeared in Willesden Youth Court on Wednesday and said he regrets his stunt at the Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund clash on June 1.
Addressing the court, the 16-year-old said: "I just decided to do this kind of prank and I'm really sorry about that and I regret that.
"I think that it was a very futile decision.";
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He had never been to a football match before the incident and reportedly "doesn't care" about the sport.
His defence lawyer said influencer Burim is known to "exploit and groom" his followers and "incite people" to "further his own personal brand".
She said the teenager had "no intention"; of touching any of the players and admits that the decision to invade the pitch was "reckless and foolish".
Burim, who goes by the name Mellstroy online, has 3.2 million followers on Instagram and 1.19 million subscribers on Telegram.
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He is said to have offered each of the pitch invaders at least £250,000 for the stunt.
It comes after Ukrainian Manchester City fan and Uber driver Yevhenii Lubnenko, 29, was handed a football banning order in court last month for the prank.
Another man, 28-year-old David Carneckij, also invaded Wembley’s pitch.
They all wore T-shirts emblazoned with “Mellstroy” — Burim’s screen name.
Lubnenko, who lives in Los Angeles, admitted breaching the Football Offences Act and was banned from attending any matches in England and Wales for three years and fined £264.
But District Judge Michael Snow said: “The real villain is the Russian who is offering people money to take part in what you would describe as a prank.
“But I can’t punish him as he is not here.”
However, Judge Snow admitted that the banning order was “wildly irrelevant” as it would not stop Lubnenko from attending matches in the US.
