The scars from Paris run deeper than most of us will ever know. For Danny Smith, that night outside the Stade de France didn't just end with Liverpool losing 1-0 to Real Madrid. It changed everything.

Four years on from being attacked with a hammer by thugs before the Champions League final, Danny is finally rebuilding his life. A charity football event at Goals Netherton on June 6 will help support his journey from manual labourer to mental health professional.

The attack left Danny with three tibial plateau fractures in his knee, injuries so severe they rated the maximum six on the medical scale. He was at the match with his young son Daniel when the ambush happened, an experience that would haunt both of them long after they returned home to Liverpool.

"Following Paris, I received physiotherapy for a year and a half and went from a wheelchair to weight bearing," Danny explains. "I had Psychotherapy for PTSD and had to leave work on medical grounds."

The physical rehabilitation at the Rehab 4 Performance centre in Speke, founded by former Liverpool physiotherapist Matt Konopinski, couldn't restore what the attack had taken away. Danny had to abandon his roles at a car manufacturing company and as a weekend carer for autistic children. The path back to his old life simply didn't exist.

But from that darkness came purpose. Danny found himself drawn to helping others navigate trauma, using his own horrific experience as a foundation for understanding.

"I had a burning desire to give back and I thought the best way to do this and to get back into gainful employment was by helping others with their mental health as I believe my journey could inspire others and my experiences would enable me understand what others were going through," he says.

Now in the final year of a psychotherapy course starting this September, Danny is funding his education himself. It's an expensive process, which is where the Liverpool community steps in once again.

Liverpool-based charity An Hour for Others, working with Les Wright from Supply Chain Solution, has organised the fundraising day. Sixteen five-a-side teams will compete, with entry fees going directly towards Danny's education costs.

It's not the first time the city has rallied around Danny. A previous event in 2023, featuring a video message from Jurgen Klopp and appearances by John Barnes, Alan Kennedy, David Fairclough and Howard Gayle, raised £22,000.

The memory of that night in Paris remains vivid and terrifying. Danny describes how around ten attackers initially approached him and his son, growing to around fifty as the situation escalated.

"This one guy pretended to be a peacemaker but he had a hammer that I didn't see at all. He reached out and struck me on the knee and I was left incapacitated. It must be his little party piece because he could've hit me over the head if he wanted," Danny recalls.

The attack was swift and brutal. "It was like a Formula 1 team changing tyres. They have all picked me up, took everything I had off me, dropped me and moved on to the next one."

What happened in Paris was a stain on football, a reminder of the dangers that can lurk in the shadows of our beautiful game. But Danny's response shows the best of what it means to be part of this Liverpool family.

Turning trauma into purpose, using pain to help others heal, building something positive from the wreckage. That's not just recovery, that's transformation.

The charity day on June 6 represents more than fundraising. It's Liverpool looking after its own, ensuring that what was broken in Paris can be rebuilt stronger here at home.