and so when I got home from Bucharest this afternoon, UPS came to my house and delivered these.
There was a fight among the players during the game and the referee had to call it off.
Not a nice way to introduce Romanian soccer to the +30,000 foreign fans in town for the big Final.
Before going to the match, I hired a driver to bring me around to visit the grounds of the 3 big clubs in Bucharest: Steaua, Dinamo, and Rapid.
Operation Vukraine part 1
more about this operation in future blog.
I want to share with you a few thoughts about the Europa League Final last night.
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| at Bucharest Airport |
When I arrived in Bucharest on Tuesday night, I turned on the TV and the Romanian sports channel was discussing not the biggest soccer match played in Romania on the next day, the Europa League Final. Instead they were talking about a derby match in Cluj that night. There was a fight among the players during the game and the referee had to call it off.
Not a nice way to introduce Romanian soccer to the +30,000 foreign fans in town for the big Final.
But next day, my impression got more positive. Both fan zones were well organized. There were free buses to bring the fans from the fan zones to the new stadium. The security control was efficient. And the new stadium has plenty of spaces around for fans to hang out.
Before going to the match, I hired a driver to bring me around to visit the grounds of the 3 big clubs in Bucharest: Steaua, Dinamo, and Rapid.
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| Rapid stadium |
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| Steaua stadium |
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| Dinamo stadium
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As I saw these old but famous grounds, I thought to myself 'would it not be nice to meet some of the famous former Romanian players?'. But I had the cheapest ticket (35 USD) for the match so I did not think my chance is very good.
When I got to the stadium, I discovered that not only my cheap seat is in a section next to the main tribune, but to get to my section, I had to go through a check point that separated the poor from the rich. and so I was on the other side of the fence.
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| look who is at the VIP entrance? |
so for the next 2 hours, I met Pierluigi Collina, Vicente del Bosque, Geoff Thompson, Michel Platini, Enrique Cerezo, Patrick Müller, the Prime Minister of Romania, the Princess of Romania, etc and I took photos of them.
but they were not the people I was excited to see. These were the people I was thrilled to meet.
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| Ioan Lupescu of Dinamo and Bayer Leverkusen
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and the best moment was when Mr. Emerich Jenei arrived. He was the trainer of the Steaua side that defeated Barcelona to win the European Cup Final in 1986.
I did not hang around to say hello to the Prince of Spain. I went to my seat with 30 minutes to spare and watched the opening ceremony.
the stadium was almost full, much to my surprises. both Spanish clubs brought many supporters and the local fans turned out in full. This was not the case in my last 2 Europa League Final (Istanbul and Dublin). In both cases, once the local team was eliminated, the local fans stayed away.
Bravo Romania.
The match was full of action. The fans behaved. 3 great goals.
To make sure the game is on prime time TV in western Europe (i.e. 20.45), the local kick-off time was 15 minutes before 10 PM. so the game ended just before midnight.
the Metro had stopped running and the free buses were only carrying the fans back to airport. for those fans who paid for a hotel room to sleep, we were left with the entertaining task of negotiating the price of a taxi ride. after midnight in Bucharest, the advantages go to the taxi drivers.
well soon, I will be off to Ukraine for the EURO. more matches late at night. the adventure continues...
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