132 people died. But many more did not, thanks to these nameless heroes.

Bullets, blasts and terror reigned across Paris on Friday night.

In a series of attacks, at least 132 people were killed and hundreds more injured, devastating families, wreaking havoc and causing widespread panic across the Western world.

But, the attackers had planned for much worse.

And, thanks to some unlikely heroes, some of the terrorists’ plans were foiled.

At least one of the three attackers who detonated blasts outside the national soccer stadium had a ticket to the France v Germany game, the Wall Street Journal reports.

He attempted to enter the Stade de France – a venue that holds up to 80,000 people and was hosting the French president François Hollande at the time – about 15 minutes after the game began.

French police believe his intention was to detonate the bomb inside the crowded stadium, provoking a frightening and deadly stampede.

But, thankfully, the plotted attack took a different course when the attacker was frisked by security officers at the stadium entrance.

They discovered the man was wearing an explosives vest.

As he tried to back away from security officers, the attacker detonated the vest, packed with bolts and explosives.

Three minutes later, a second suicide bomber detonated himself outside the stadium.

And a third at a nearby McDonalds.

Tragically, in the three separate attacks, one civilian died.

But it could have been so many more.

The Paris attack is heard outside of a soccer match between France and Germany. https://t.co/LjUGhtdoQU pic.twitter.com/0mO47a85ra

— NESN (@NESN) November 13, 2015

Several security guards were injured in the attacks. The guard who revealed that at least one of the attackers had sought to enter the packed stadium requested to be identified by only his first name, Zouheir. We may never learn the names of the guards who prevented the first stadium bomber from entering the venue. They may not seek credit for their heroic actions. They may say they were just doing their job.  

Opinion: Shunning refugees is the wrong answer to terror in #Paris https://t.co/Yjz5OmXcQk pic.twitter.com/8zcM5dJTIV — CNN International (@cnni) November 16, 2015

They did do their job, just like the police officers who were killed in the line of duty while trying to keep civilians safe from the monsters who stormed the city three days ago.

It’s the reason these three acts of violence had nowhere near the same casualties as the rest of the string of attacks across the city.

And thousands of people may just owe their lives to these nameless heroes.

The people who were spared and their families will be forever grateful to those guards who just did their job.