PICS from my CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL trip...

[SAtown]

Milan - Athens - Barcelona

Milan

We arrived at Milan (Saturday, May 18) 8 hours later than expected because we were "late" to our 5 am plane Friday morning. So we got to Milan at around 2:30 pm, immediately got our luggage and hopped on a taxi. The driver informed us that Milan always plays at 3 pm on Saturdays, and the airport (Malpensa) was about 25 minutes away from town. We told him to step on it and take us to the hotel, drop off all the , and go to San Siro. I bought the camera the day before the trip and didn't charge it, so I didn't even take it with me to the stadium that day (turns out the camera comes partially charged ). We got to San Siro and learned that since it was "Fan Appreciation Day," they moved the game to 6 pm. So we went to the little bar close to the stadium and decided to add a little buzz to the jetlag we already had. No starters played, but it was still pretty packed, and the crowd sang and chanted the usual "Milan! Milan! Milan!" chants. I went the next day again to the stadium to take pics of the impressive stadium...

Stadio San Siro





Me







Athens

The night before the game, we hung out at the town square, where all the Liverpool fans were. The Milan fans were smart enough to arrive the morning o the game, because the fans of the Reds were fueled up and looking for a fight the night before. I saw a total of about 5 or 6 Milan fans that night, and 1 of them got a bottle broken over his head just for walking by a group of Liverpool fans that were singing "Ra-fa Benitez, Ra-fa Benitez, Ra-Ra-Ra-Rafa Benitez..." to the tune of "Para bailar la bamba."

Anyways, at the game, the fans at the stadium were separated, of course. One side of the stadium was entirely Liverpool fans (the left side on TV), and on the other side, it was 95% Milan fans, but this one little section RIGHT NEXT TO THEM on the upper level was a section of Liverpool fans. That's where I was, in the front row with the balcony in front of me. It was a scary situation because I had on my Gattuso jersey.

My Dad and I at the Milan entrance of the Olympic Stadium.



Milan banners



A view of the empty stadium hours before kick off.



Satan



Milan warming up



Milan fans below my section



During the Champions League anthem (sorry about quality)



Kickoff (as you can see, the opposite side was all Liverpool red)



Crowd after Inzaghi's 1st goal. (I have vid of the goal itself, but have no idea how to post it. Once I learn how, I will post MANY good vids).



Crowd after Inzaghi's 2nd goal. (LMAO at the Liverpool fan in the lower left)







Milan champions of Europe



Gattuso



Liverpool fans shocked.

[SAtown]

Barcelona

The Barca v. Getafe game wasn't supposed to be played until Sunday, the day that I left Europe. For some reason, the game was moved to Saturday night at 10 pm (some said it was because Ronaldinho plays better on Saturdays). Anyways, with 3 games left in La Liga, Barca and Real Madrid were tied in points, but Real Madrid had the advantage because of the games between them. So basically, this was the most important game of Barca's season. NOT the game in which Ronaldinho gets a ing RED CARD in the 30th minute or so... but he did. I did take a load of pics of him in warmups and stuff, and took the video of him getting ejected. We were sitting 2 FREAKING ROWS up from the bench, at CENTER FIELD. Absolutely amazing...

Camp Nou (Largest soccer stadium in Europe, 3rd largest in the world behind the "Maracana" in Brazil, and "Azteca" in Mexico) Capacity here is over 100,000.



Barca bus



Barca crowd waiting to get in







My seats



Warmups:

Messi



Ronaldinho and Messi

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Nice pics...I would love to attend a soccer match like that just for the atmosphere.

I don't know a thing about soccer, but truthfully, I've been wanting to learn.

[Ginofan]

awesome pics.

[FromWayDowntown]

They're great pics. I've got to get myself to some matches in Europe in the next few years. It's too great a spectacle to not see it in person.

Nice pics...I would love to attend a soccer match like that just for the atmosphere.

I don't know a thing about soccer, but truthfully, I've been wanting to learn.

It's not hard to learn the basics and, as with anything, once you have the basics, understanding the nuances becomes the trick. I can't seem to commit myself to following European clubs during their domestic seasons and Euro play, but if you choose to do so, the opportunities are definitely there to do it fairly easily these days.

I played the game as a kid and now find myself drawn to it more and more. I can understand why the rest of the world thinks it's such a wonderful game. There's something to be said for the importance of every scoring chance and those precious goals.

[Duncan21]

glad you had a good time.

Liverpool should of won though!

[SAtown]

Liverpool had it coming... They were already singing We've won it 5 times, we've won it 5 ti----------mes, in ISTANBUL, we've won it 5 times. It's only on loan, it's only on lo---------an, in ANCIENT GREECE, we'll take it back home!" But my favorite was (in reference to Istanbul 2005) "3-nil, and ya ed it up, 3-nil, and ya ed it up!" chants.

Liverpool fans were WAY too y. They were dancing and singing all damn night the night before, about 50,000 or so. They trashed the town square, but were cool to hang out with.

[Duncan21]

liverpool have the best fans in the world, even at full time they were singing you'll never walk alone.

[SAtown]

Most Liverpool fans were very classy when they lost. Before the game, they shook hands with Milan fans, and after they lost, many of them exchanged shirts with Milan fans (like the players do) and hugged them and sang along with the Italians. Great moment

[SAtown]

Samuel Eto'o



Puyol has BO



Pato (for the Argentinians) Goalie for Getafe



GAMETIME:







Group Photo





Kickoff



Messi is SICK



Ronaldinho GOAL



Ronaldinho gets RED CARD



Frank Rijkaard didn't like it

[IX_Equilibrium]

Good stuff, man. Thanks for posting.

[velik_m]

Those were great seats in Nou Camp.

[kingsfan]

Nice pix. I haven't been to a football match in Europe in a long time but we used to have so much fun. I say soccer fans are the best in the world and they're definitely fun to party with.Still say Liverpool should have won though

[johngateswhiteley]

incredible.

[resistanze]

You are a boss. I hope to watch a Champions League game live sometime in my lifetime.

[NorCal510]

good pics but soccer sucks

[SAtown]

good pics but soccer sucks

Why even post?

[NorCal510]

Why even post?

Why even bother responding?

[ALVAREZ6]

Awesome pics!


You're lucky as to go to all of those stadiums to see great games, I'd love to go see Barcelona at Camp Nou and Milan at that nice ass stadium. Those seats you had in Barcelona were amazing. Bring me next time!

[ALVAREZ6]

SAtown, jsut to get an idea, how much were those tickets for Barcelona and how far in advance did you buy them?

[SAtown]

SAtown, jsut to get an idea, how much were those tickets for Barcelona and how far in advance did you buy them?

Nou Camp wasn't even full, since it holds over 100,000 people. These seats were 110 Euro each, and we got them the day before the game. Availability isn't much of a problem, unless they're playing Real Madrid or a Champions League match. To see (arguably) one the best teams in the world play an important match at the end of the season, it's well worth spending that money for those tix.

[ALVAREZ6]

I definitely want to attend a few of those games in the future. Don't know when though. I graduate from HS next year, and in the summer me and a few friends are goin all over Europe for a couple of weeks. When do those games end in the year?

[SAtown]

The Milan game I went to was the 2nd to last game of the season, and the last home game. The Barca game was 3rd to last of the season, and 2nd to last at home. So I'm guessing most European leagues end towards the end of May/early June. If you wanna watch some European soccer, better go earlier than the summer. There's tons to do in Europe besides soccer, but once you go to a game, you see the sport entirely different.

Oh, and maybe you should same some money and go to Euro 2008. It's in Austria/Switzerland next summer. It's a fact that European national teams take this tournament a lot more seriously than they do the World Cup.

[ALVAREZ6]

San Siro is probably my favorite stadium in the world though

[SAtown]

San Siro is probably my favorite stadium in the world though

It is mine also. The Milan fans made a lot of noise for a meaningless game, while the Barca crowd was as lame as the At&t center crowd in a regular season game. No chanting, no singing, no "porra." The Milan crowd gave me chills, especially during the CL Final.