By Will Griffee For Mailonline. King Baudouin Stadium was transformed from a place of joy and expectation to one of fear, distress and anguish on Monday night. Fans, players and coaching staff were locked in the arena , located in the north-west of Brussels, until 4am after two Swedish supporters were shot dead in a terrorist attack in the Belgian capital.
Belgium and Sweden fans had been enjoying the Euro qualifier before news began to spread about the incident. When word filtered through, it sent shockwaves around the stadium and the match was then abandoned at half-time with the score at There were 35, in attendance, with Swedes making the trip, and the decision was taken swiftly to call the game off after the Belgian government raised the terror alert to its highest level.
Yannick Carrasco is seen on the phone, as many players called loved ones in the arena. Players and returned from the changing rooms after the decision was made to abandon. Swedish supporters were met by the players and coaching staff inside the stadium. Frederik Reinfeldt, chairman of the Swedish Football Association and the country's former prime minister, left the stadium for safety reasons. They 'opened fire' before arresting him, the Belgian prosecutors' office said.
Two Swedish compatriots passed away. A third person is recovering from severe injures. The proximity of the shooting on Boulevard d'Ypres took place just 5km from the stadium and took place 45 minutes before the game kicked off.
And the players were told about what had happened at half time, that Lassoued opened fire on a group of Swedish football fans in a taxi last night as they passed through Boulevard d'Ypres just a few minutes north of the city's famous Grand Plaza. The attack he said was to avenge the killing of a six-year-old US-Palestinian boy. Both sides came together to decide how to proceed, with the teams agreeing not to continue.
