"It was absolutely mental to be honest,” said Fowler, when asked about the story in a press conference leading up to a Liverpool vs Real Madrid legends match on Saturday.
“Steve McManaman is a massive mate of mine, but with my playing commitments I hadn’t been able to visit him. I was on holiday in Portugal with a family member at that time so we made plans to go over there.
“Madrid ended up winning but the night was much more memorable than the game. I was in the lounge afterwards when Macca walks in with two Real Madrid t-shirts and says to us: ‘Put them on, you’re coming on the bus.’
“So Real Madrid are celebrating and doing their tour of the city with hundreds of thousands fans lining the streets, and there’s myself and my cousin – two little scallywags from Toxteth - with them going up to the fountain in the middle of Madrid. The atmosphere was amazing. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
“I think the Real lads knew who I was but my cousin got a few dodgy looks! It was fantastic,” Fowler continued.
“When they got to the fountain, the players got off and did a little tour around it. I was asked to go and do that with them but I stopped short of it.
“I think that would have been too much. One of my abiding memories was being on the bus; for as far as you could see there were Real Madrid supporters.
“When the bus stopped, I was cowered down a little bit as I was bit embarrassed about being there. But there were about 20 English lads who spotted me and started singing my name.
“Real Madrid have just won the league, their players are around the fountain, celebrating the title, and you can hear these lads chanting ‘Fowler, Fowler’! It was a great night... surreal, actually.”
And then came social media...
