Europa League Final 2011 Dublin

Thanks to Mandy from England, I got two tickets to the Final of the Europa League in Dublin. Porto vs. Braga, 2 clubs from Northern Portugal.

So I asked my friend Clive to join me. I met Clive in 2009 at a match in Luzern. He is a retired Englishman who was successful in many businesses including music promotion, wrestling promotion, commodity trading, shipping, etc.

During the trip, I also learned that Clive was at Wembley for the 1966 World Cup Semi-Final between England and Portugal. He saw Eusebio played.

We arrived in Dublin the night before the match and found out that some 15,000 Portuguese fans were also there. And you thought Portugal has an economic crisis!

We also found out that the Queen of England was visiting Ireland at the same time.

Football fans and the Queen - who would cause more troubles?

The match was played at the beautiful stadium called
1) Aviva Stadium - the official name
2) Lansdowne Road - the unofficial name as preferred by the locals and
3) Dublin Arena - the name used by UEFA just for this match because Aviva is not a sponsor of UEFA

The stadium is only 1 year old. And you thought there is an economic crisis in Ireland!

The opening ceremony was really cool. When the line-up of each team was announced, 22 kids, each wearing one player shirt, ran out to the field to show the fans the position of each player.

The match was disappointed, especially Porto. This was a team that won the Portuguese league without losing one match. But against Braga, they were tentative and was lucky to score just before halftime when a Braga defender lost possession at the halfway line.

But the goal was a beauty - a curving cross from Guarin and a nice header from Falcao. Both Colombians.

In the second haf, Porto was happy to preserve the 1-0 advantage. Braga was the better team in terms of possessions and passing but their finishing left a lot to be desired.

Porto won 1-0 and when they walked up to the tribune to receive the trophy, I was hoping to see the Queen handing out the trophy just like in the 1966 WC Final. But she was not there.

The fans from both teams behaved well. And the many neutral fans also were exemplary. We saw a few Liverpool and Manchester City fans at the game. These fans had bought tickets hoping their clubs would make the Final.

I wonder if the Queen would have been at the game if one of those English clubs were playing.

I wonder if she will be at Wembley next week for the Champions League Final.

I will be there. Thanks to a new friend from Sicily.

That will be my next blog.