Posted from high noon'bells' onwards on the lang complicated journey back on Wedinzday 20th September 2023 (Post done mostly in Berlin airport az we were stuck there for several hours!) Updated on Thorzday
*”HAVE YOO EVER SEEN A GEORDIE IN MILAN???” 🤔
San Siro Stadium, Milan, Italy
To get to Milan we had to use several modes of transport on Munday to get there In order they are (deep breath!) bus from wor hoose to the central—-a train from there to Edinburgh—- a tram from Edinburgh to Edinburgh airport—-a flight to Berlin—-and finally a flight to Milan!—-where we arrived at 11pm bells’—-15 hours after leavin Tyneside!
Luckily the hotel woz near Milan airport and after dumpin wor bags we made straight for hotel’s bar which woz open til 2am 🛎️s
Next day (Tuesday) we decided to Dee a bit of groundhoppin’ az wor U18s we’re playin AC Milan U18s at the Milan trainin groond in a UEFA youth competition at 1:00pm 🛎️s! But that’s yet another disaster story for The NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers ( A ‘disaster’ match report on that game later this week on Friday)
So there woz plenty of time to get to The San Siro for the main game at 6:45 🛎️s
Anyway! Az it trined oot we didn’t have enough time to down a few liquid lubrications on the way and went to The San Siro completely’T total’🥶
This woz the 2nd time I have been here to watch The Toon, the first bein 20 years ago v AC,s arch rivals Inter who they share the huge stadium with!
The first time yoo see it, it brings a ‘wow factor’ impression az it stands aall alone like a giant sky scraper!
From the ootside it’s without doubt the best lookin away stadium on the planet!
Az expected there were big queues at the away end—however! Gettin through aall the security checks where they even checked passport names against names on match tickets (which were hand written in biro pen!) (one Toon fan on Twitter tried to change the name on the ticket with nail varnish remover but it rubbed part of the barcode off to make it unusable!)
Anyway! The last time we were here we were in the bottom deck v Inter Milan, but this time we were on the very top deck, in the gods!
The Long and Winding Road!
To get to wor seats we had to gan up a spiral ramp which took aboot 15 mins to climb to the top! Luckily the ramp wasn’t steep and we wornt oot of breath by the time we got to wor seats high above the away goal in a corner section!
The end woz packed and the teams came oot to The Champions Leegue tune az the Milan stands spelt oot the name MILAN ( See top video)
The game kicked off with NUFC wearin the famous stripes, white shorts and white socks! Noticeable were the red numbers with a white patch around them, makin then more readable than the numbers with black stripes gannin through them!
AC laid seige to wor goal and were it not for the brilliance of The Pope in gal we would have been 3 doon at the break, played in a brilliant atmosphere! ie:The Champions Leegue iz on another level with The Toon not havin a single shot on target in the entire half!
Again Milan went for the jugular in the 2nd period but vital blocks a crucial times kept the score at nil-nil!---Plus we played much better this half az we attacked 'The Toon Fans End'!
Indeed wor ably shot on goal came from Sean Longstaff who hit a screamer at the death, but the Milan sub goalie Sportiello pulled off a brilliant save to deny us!
Nil-nil at full time which woz greeted loudly by The Toon faithful az the ref blew for full time!
A vital point for NUFC
To cut a very lang story short the game finish at 8:40 bells’ but it took us 4 hours to get back to wor hotel az the San Siro Metro station and the station beyond were both closed due to overcrowding! ( it should have taken us no more than an hour to get back)
The journey home the next day(Wedinzday) woz the same way az we had came via Berlin, Edinburgh and the Central in The Toon (with lang flight delays of course at Berlin!—7 hours in airport)
In total, includin' the flight ower via Berlin az well,(4 hours wait) we were in Berlin airport a total of ELEVEN HOURS!---In fact we spent more Euros there than we did in Milan!
It woz then a flight back to Edinburgh---a tram to the nearest train station---a train to Edinburgh Waverley station---a train to The Toon---and finally----a bus yem!
Woz it worth it???it aalways iz when you get a good result!🤪👍⚽️
Attendance: 65,695 (4,200 very happy Toon fans*)
Total cost —-Exstorshanit!🥶
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