BANDAGES cover his knife-slashed arms, his head bears a scar and his eyes are bloodshot.

This is Andrew Kinsella, one of the two victims of a terrifying gang attack in Bolton town centre which left him with 54 stitches.

He had been beaten, kicked in the head and repeatedly cut with a craft knife by four men.

And today, speaking from his home on Hibernia Street, Deane, he said: "It could have been a lot worse. I could have died."

Andrew and his friend Paul Smith had been making their way to Moor Lane to catch a taxi after watching the Champions League football final between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen at the Muldoon's pub on Bradshawgate.

They say they were confronted by their attackers on Newport Street when the four men blocked their path.

Both were knocked to the ground and slashed by a knifeman. Andrew was also kicked and punched in the head and upper body.

The attackers stole the 28-year-old's wallet, containing his credit credit card but no cash.

He said: "They just seemed to come out of the blue and surround us. I remember lying on the floor and being kicked and kicked in the head.

"It happened in a flash and I didn't even feel the knife cutting me. I was slashed down the upper arm three or four times and stabbed in the back. Apparently I was losing a lot of blood."

Paul, a telesales operator of Cloister Street, Halliwell, said the pair had been having a pleasant night up until that point.

He was slashed across his chest, back and side and had 80 stitches. "It was senseless and I'm pretty angry," he said.

Both Andrew, who works as a graphic designer, and Paul had their clothes ripped to shreds.

A group of girls came to their aid and told them not to move until the ambulance arrived.

Police have arrested four men.