This man spent a small fortune on what he thought would be a football fan's dream trip to the Champions League final in Cardiff only for it to turn sour.
The man, Abraham Castaneda, flew to the UK from the United States this week for the big clash between Juventus and Real Madrid at the National Stadium of Wales on Saturday night.
Real Madrid fan Abraham, from California, had been planning the trip with a friend for more than six months.
But the trip has been more or less ruined after the tickets they bought for the showpiece final while in the Welsh capital turned out to be fake.
And Abraham only found out after trying to get through the third security cordon outside the stadium. He had gone through the first two with no one realising it was fake.
Staying in Bridgend for the trip, Abraham arrived in London on Wednesday and was hoping to be able to pick up a ticket for the mammoth sporting event while in Wales. He also booked a flight to Madrid to celebrate there if they won.
He says he and his friend paid £500 each for tickets they bought from two men in Cardiff.
He said: "I got a fake ticket. I bought it in Cardiff. They were on the street [saying] 'tickets, tickets, tickets'."
The pair only realised they had been duped when they were making their way into the National Stadium of Wales before kick-off.
After getting through two security checks, they were halted in their tracks at the third and told their tickets were false.
"On the third checkpoint, they said it was fake. I couldn't believe it. I thought Cardiff was a nice place."
Less than an hour before kick-off, Abraham had resigned himself to watching the game in Elevens - Gareth Bale's sports bar in Cardiff - instead of taking a seat with the rest of the sell-out crowd.
After revealing his friend had decided to search for another ticket, Abraham said: "I learned my lesson and I don't want to go through this again."
His trip will also see him stop off in Madrid for two days, arriving in Spain the day after the final before he heads off back to the US.
"Hopefully if they win, I can celebrate in Madrid."
It comes after fans were warned earlier in the day that fake tickets were being circulated in the city ahead of the final.
The Football Association of Wales warned fans not to buy them from unofficial sources, adding that measures were in place at the stadium to detect such tickets.
A statment from the FAW said: "The robust security checks that will be implemented for tonight’s match, will detect all counterfeit tickets and therefore entry to the stadium will be denied to any person in possession of an illegal ticket.
"Under no circumstances should supporters purchase tickets from unofficial sources."
