football rambles

The day after attending the match between Inter and Dortmund we were back at the San Siro for the museum and tour. I had thought about only going to the museum, but probably fortunately they didn't offer separate tickets. The museum had a few old pictures, a lot of old shirts and a bit of subutteo, but it wasn't a patch on the Hampden museum that we visited when we went to Celtic. In fact it was only a five minute trip. However, the stadium tour really is access all areas and with two teams sharing the stadium it's fascinating to see how they set up the place differently for the different teams. One thing that I was impressed with as an aside was that Lukaku had a 'boycott the Sun' sticker in his locker. He's Ok with me whatever Ibra might have to say about him! Obviously at the end of the tour you're directed into the club shops, Sean was so impressed with the antics of the Inter ultras the night before he bought an AC Milan top!

 This was the last big football trip I went on before getting ill and before the pandemic started, so just as well it was an absolutely massive one! The San Siro is soon to be demolished (allegedly), so this was one final chance to see what I consider to be the best stadium in the world. Sure, it's starting to look a bit tatty, but the sheer imposing size of it and the atmosphere generated, especially for a big game like this is second to none. Unfortunately, Dortmund had a really poor evening and were hamstrung by injuries. Lautaro Martinez was in fine form for Inter though and bossed the show. He scored on 22 minutes and Candreva added to the score sheet in the dying minutes.  It was a great experience. We couldn't get tickets for the Dortmund end but got some in the Inter end, i must admit that when I got them I hadn't know that they were going to be right in the middle of their ultras.

 The day after the Bohemians game we got on a train from Dublin to Tullamore to catch the hurling game between Offaly and Antrim. Offaly being a team from the Midlands whose golden age was in the early 80s, but were suffering in 2019 were obviously a team that resonate with me. This was actually a close game and really entertaining. Unfortunately, Antrim prevailed 32 (3-23) to Offaly's 30 (4-18) - one more under the posts and they would have done it, but it wasn't to be. When we got back to Dublin, the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Spurs had just started, unfortunately we missed the goal, but we knew who had scored when we were going past a pub back to the hotel.