Reading the title, I’m quite sure some of you could have sniffed it and see it coming. As the name suggests, let me officially tell you this….
I had my first CHAMPIONS LEAGUE experience while I am on this working trip…. Champions League? I must be kidding myself… I had dreamt of watching EPL match live but it never happened (yet) and now it’s the Champions League? Be serious…..
It started this way….
It was Wednesday 22 October 2008 at about 9.00 am. Location : outside Spartak Hotel in Mariupol, Ukraine.
Here’s the story…..
We were supposed to meet up outside the hotel at 9.00 am. Being a football fan, I did catch some of the highlights of Champions League games played throughout Europe the night before, among the results : Man Utd 3 – Celtic 0, Fenerbahce 2 – Arsenal 5, Juventus 2 – Real Madrid 1 etc etc…
So, when I came down, the MPV was already waiting with the driver Ivan, a football fan, standing there in the cold 8deg weather. FYI, he speaks very little English and to be able to communicate with him, we need our Liaison Officer, Kakajan Abdiyev, to translate for us…
Besides Ivan, Shankar, Hans (not a football fan), Kakajan (also not a football fan), Pavel and Igor were already there… we were waiting for AJ and Azhar (her husband) and Mikhail, I think, to come down..…
I started to talk to Shankar… “ Did you watch Champions League football last nite?”.. Shankar answered “ No, I didn’t but I know some of the results”… sensing we were talking about football, Ivan joined in by saying “Football??”…. and he told us that Dynamo Kyiv also won AWAY against Porto the previous night (translated by Kakajan, off course)…(Note to non-football fan : Dynamo Kyiv is one of the top 2 teams in Ukraine, the other team is Shaktar Donetsk)
Then I asked… “ How about Shaktar Donetsk? Did they win or lose”…. His answer surprised me…. (translated) “ Shaktar is playing against Sporting Lisbon tonight”… promptly, I asked the golden question… “ will they be playing HOME or AWAY?”…. Ivan : (translated) “ Here in Donetsk”…
Then my platinum question, “Can we get tickets for that game?”… the answer even surprised me further… “I can get it for you, provided you bring me along”…….
BINGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could feel some adrenalin rush, prompting the next question “How much is the ticket?”… answer by Ivan : “40 dollars”…… man, am I not shocked at all…. That’s extremely affordable…. Hahaha….. Champions League, here I come….
After a quick discussion with Shankar, we agreed to ask Ivan to buy the tickets and paid him the total price……
I could not really concentrate doing my job that day, as half my mind is already on the way to the stadium and the other half is thinking about what to buy as a souvenir… either a cap (too many already), a shirt (would not fit into my wardrobe anymore) or a muffler (er, bila nak pakai lagi?)….
And when we finished work that evening, we went back to the hotel for a quick ‘cloth reinforcement’ (coz we anticipate it would be freezing out there in the stadium) and then we are on our way to Donetsk Stadium !!!! whooaaaaaaaaaa……….
There were 5 or us… me, Ivan, AJ (not a football fan actually – ikut husband punya pasal), Azhar (her husband – he’s an avid fan), Shankar (Selangor Supporter di zaman era Mokhtar Dahari) and Kakajan (repeat : not at all a football fan). Kakajan was there as part of his job, to be an interpreter….
The game was scheduled at 945pm local time (245am Malaysian Time).We pushed off to Donetsk at around 7.00pm. As usual, I slept almost 80% of the journey. At around 8.30 pm, I woke up when the MPV stopped moving, only to find that we are at a local McDonalds restaurant. We decided to have a speedy dinner, which turned out to be not-so-speedy as there were heaps of people in the outlet. A fillet-o-fish and a cup of coffee later, I was fully recharged and ready for the game.
Ivan said, the Stadia is approx 1 km away from the McD, so we decided to walk (what is there walking 1km in freezing cold – I did that before in Sydney, walking back home with my wife after watching South Africa trounced Uruguay during 2003 Rugby World Cup group games).
By the time we approached the stadium, there were already dozens of Shaktar supporters along the road and outside the stadium, warming themselves with beer, vodka etc (liquors are banned from the stadium). We stopped at a small hut selling Shaktar merchandise and shopped for some souvenirs. I bought a much-needed Shaktar muffler to fend-off the effect of the freezing weather. It must have been somewhere around 3-5 deg when we entered the stadium (plus the wind-chill factor). That’s FREEEEZZZZZZINNNNNNNNNNN COLDDDDD, man…..
When we entered the stadium, it was already three-quarter full with Shaktar Donetsk supporters (including us)…. We went around the stadium to find our dedicated seats and I must say that the seats given to us are not that bad at all… it was the Grand Stand seat that originally costs USD$24 (local currency UAH 120), but we bought it in the black market, so it was bloated a lil bit… never mind that….
It was 10 minutes before the match started when we settled in at our seats and I began to take pics around the stadium… load and load of pics… I might even took more pics at the stadium than my work pics….
Then the screen showed a live feed in the players tunnel where the players are getting ready to enter the pitch… minutes later, the atmosphere turned deafening as the 2 teams marched onto the bright green pitch together with the match officials… I can’t believe my eyes…
And off course, there were also the famous Champions League logo in a huge round flag (or something) that is being laid inside the middle circle of the pitch with youths/kids along its perimeter waiting for the time to wave it…
After the players presentation the famous Champions League anthem was played and the kids/youths around the perimeter started to wave the logo (for non-football fan : the waving of the Champions League logo in the middle circle is prominent proceeding before a Champions League match gets underway….
Few minutes later, the match started and it was breathtaking, just to be inside the stadium and inside a Champions League night atmosphere… can’t really describe that wonderful top-of-the-world feeling in this blog… I’m lost for words…
There were approx 20,000 supported inside the stadium, but the designated away supporters section was seen empty. I guess the visiting supporters does not fancy coming to Donetsk for the game and save their money for a visit to Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium (Barcelona is in the same group as Shaktar and Sporting, the other team is FC Basle).
As you may aware, the match ended in a 0-1 defeat to Shaktar and the supporters went home disappointed, excluding us. I even jumped and celebrated (initially) when Sporting scored 15 minutes from time, only to be reminded by Shankar to calm down (I was wearing Shaktar’s scarf and celebrate when Sporting scored – this is not the right gesture).
In summary, the match was not as exciting as we had hoped for. The first half was a bit dull, but the second half was interesting. Shaktar attacked most of the time but in one swift counter-attack, Sporting managed to squeezed in the winning goal that makes the difference… at least there’s a goal to see (even though tak la lawa sangat pun)…. Kalau 0-0 lagi sakit hati….
As for the players, I think I hardly recognize any Shaktar players but there were seberal Portugal International players within the Sporting team, among others Helder Postiga (an ex-Spurs player)……
After the match, we managed to take a pic in front of the stadium using Azhar’s SLR and I will print that pic and put it in an oven, er.. I mean.. put it in a frame… together with my match ticket….
We went back to Mariupol at around 12.30 and reached the hotel at 2.00 am (Everyone were asleep in the MPV) except Ivan the driver, off course…
When I got back to the hotel, I had difficulty to sleep as the adrenalin rush is still there and the fact that I have watched a Champions League match live in Europe still did not sink into my mind…. I even declared that I WILL UPDATE MY BLOG and here you are, a rare long blog update from me….
I guess that’s all that I can update right now… I hope I have put in all the facts and do not miss any important milestone…
Wait for my next blog entry… Part 4 of my working trip.. which the journey back to KL…
Till then, wassalam and MAJULAH SUKAN UNTUK NEGARA…..
OOOOOOOOOOO…….THE CHAMMMPIONNNNSSSSSSSSSSS……… (nyanyi ala2 Champions League anthem) – untuk mereka yg tau je la….
Roger and out….. Enjoy the pics....
I had my first CHAMPIONS LEAGUE experience while I am on this working trip…. Champions League? I must be kidding myself… I had dreamt of watching EPL match live but it never happened (yet) and now it’s the Champions League? Be serious…..
It started this way….
It was Wednesday 22 October 2008 at about 9.00 am. Location : outside Spartak Hotel in Mariupol, Ukraine.
Here’s the story…..
We were supposed to meet up outside the hotel at 9.00 am. Being a football fan, I did catch some of the highlights of Champions League games played throughout Europe the night before, among the results : Man Utd 3 – Celtic 0, Fenerbahce 2 – Arsenal 5, Juventus 2 – Real Madrid 1 etc etc…
So, when I came down, the MPV was already waiting with the driver Ivan, a football fan, standing there in the cold 8deg weather. FYI, he speaks very little English and to be able to communicate with him, we need our Liaison Officer, Kakajan Abdiyev, to translate for us…
Besides Ivan, Shankar, Hans (not a football fan), Kakajan (also not a football fan), Pavel and Igor were already there… we were waiting for AJ and Azhar (her husband) and Mikhail, I think, to come down..…
I started to talk to Shankar… “ Did you watch Champions League football last nite?”.. Shankar answered “ No, I didn’t but I know some of the results”… sensing we were talking about football, Ivan joined in by saying “Football??”…. and he told us that Dynamo Kyiv also won AWAY against Porto the previous night (translated by Kakajan, off course)…(Note to non-football fan : Dynamo Kyiv is one of the top 2 teams in Ukraine, the other team is Shaktar Donetsk)
Then I asked… “ How about Shaktar Donetsk? Did they win or lose”…. His answer surprised me…. (translated) “ Shaktar is playing against Sporting Lisbon tonight”… promptly, I asked the golden question… “ will they be playing HOME or AWAY?”…. Ivan : (translated) “ Here in Donetsk”…
Then my platinum question, “Can we get tickets for that game?”… the answer even surprised me further… “I can get it for you, provided you bring me along”…….
BINGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could feel some adrenalin rush, prompting the next question “How much is the ticket?”… answer by Ivan : “40 dollars”…… man, am I not shocked at all…. That’s extremely affordable…. Hahaha….. Champions League, here I come….
After a quick discussion with Shankar, we agreed to ask Ivan to buy the tickets and paid him the total price……
I could not really concentrate doing my job that day, as half my mind is already on the way to the stadium and the other half is thinking about what to buy as a souvenir… either a cap (too many already), a shirt (would not fit into my wardrobe anymore) or a muffler (er, bila nak pakai lagi?)….
And when we finished work that evening, we went back to the hotel for a quick ‘cloth reinforcement’ (coz we anticipate it would be freezing out there in the stadium) and then we are on our way to Donetsk Stadium !!!! whooaaaaaaaaaa……….
There were 5 or us… me, Ivan, AJ (not a football fan actually – ikut husband punya pasal), Azhar (her husband – he’s an avid fan), Shankar (Selangor Supporter di zaman era Mokhtar Dahari) and Kakajan (repeat : not at all a football fan). Kakajan was there as part of his job, to be an interpreter….
The game was scheduled at 945pm local time (245am Malaysian Time).We pushed off to Donetsk at around 7.00pm. As usual, I slept almost 80% of the journey. At around 8.30 pm, I woke up when the MPV stopped moving, only to find that we are at a local McDonalds restaurant. We decided to have a speedy dinner, which turned out to be not-so-speedy as there were heaps of people in the outlet. A fillet-o-fish and a cup of coffee later, I was fully recharged and ready for the game.
Ivan said, the Stadia is approx 1 km away from the McD, so we decided to walk (what is there walking 1km in freezing cold – I did that before in Sydney, walking back home with my wife after watching South Africa trounced Uruguay during 2003 Rugby World Cup group games).
By the time we approached the stadium, there were already dozens of Shaktar supporters along the road and outside the stadium, warming themselves with beer, vodka etc (liquors are banned from the stadium). We stopped at a small hut selling Shaktar merchandise and shopped for some souvenirs. I bought a much-needed Shaktar muffler to fend-off the effect of the freezing weather. It must have been somewhere around 3-5 deg when we entered the stadium (plus the wind-chill factor). That’s FREEEEZZZZZZINNNNNNNNNNN COLDDDDD, man…..
When we entered the stadium, it was already three-quarter full with Shaktar Donetsk supporters (including us)…. We went around the stadium to find our dedicated seats and I must say that the seats given to us are not that bad at all… it was the Grand Stand seat that originally costs USD$24 (local currency UAH 120), but we bought it in the black market, so it was bloated a lil bit… never mind that….
It was 10 minutes before the match started when we settled in at our seats and I began to take pics around the stadium… load and load of pics… I might even took more pics at the stadium than my work pics….
Then the screen showed a live feed in the players tunnel where the players are getting ready to enter the pitch… minutes later, the atmosphere turned deafening as the 2 teams marched onto the bright green pitch together with the match officials… I can’t believe my eyes…
And off course, there were also the famous Champions League logo in a huge round flag (or something) that is being laid inside the middle circle of the pitch with youths/kids along its perimeter waiting for the time to wave it…
After the players presentation the famous Champions League anthem was played and the kids/youths around the perimeter started to wave the logo (for non-football fan : the waving of the Champions League logo in the middle circle is prominent proceeding before a Champions League match gets underway….
Few minutes later, the match started and it was breathtaking, just to be inside the stadium and inside a Champions League night atmosphere… can’t really describe that wonderful top-of-the-world feeling in this blog… I’m lost for words…
There were approx 20,000 supported inside the stadium, but the designated away supporters section was seen empty. I guess the visiting supporters does not fancy coming to Donetsk for the game and save their money for a visit to Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium (Barcelona is in the same group as Shaktar and Sporting, the other team is FC Basle).
As you may aware, the match ended in a 0-1 defeat to Shaktar and the supporters went home disappointed, excluding us. I even jumped and celebrated (initially) when Sporting scored 15 minutes from time, only to be reminded by Shankar to calm down (I was wearing Shaktar’s scarf and celebrate when Sporting scored – this is not the right gesture).
In summary, the match was not as exciting as we had hoped for. The first half was a bit dull, but the second half was interesting. Shaktar attacked most of the time but in one swift counter-attack, Sporting managed to squeezed in the winning goal that makes the difference… at least there’s a goal to see (even though tak la lawa sangat pun)…. Kalau 0-0 lagi sakit hati….
As for the players, I think I hardly recognize any Shaktar players but there were seberal Portugal International players within the Sporting team, among others Helder Postiga (an ex-Spurs player)……
After the match, we managed to take a pic in front of the stadium using Azhar’s SLR and I will print that pic and put it in an oven, er.. I mean.. put it in a frame… together with my match ticket….
We went back to Mariupol at around 12.30 and reached the hotel at 2.00 am (Everyone were asleep in the MPV) except Ivan the driver, off course…
When I got back to the hotel, I had difficulty to sleep as the adrenalin rush is still there and the fact that I have watched a Champions League match live in Europe still did not sink into my mind…. I even declared that I WILL UPDATE MY BLOG and here you are, a rare long blog update from me….
I guess that’s all that I can update right now… I hope I have put in all the facts and do not miss any important milestone…
Wait for my next blog entry… Part 4 of my working trip.. which the journey back to KL…
Till then, wassalam and MAJULAH SUKAN UNTUK NEGARA…..
OOOOOOOOOOO…….THE CHAMMMPIONNNNSSSSSSSSSSS……… (nyanyi ala2 Champions League anthem) – untuk mereka yg tau je la….
Roger and out….. Enjoy the pics....
2 comments:
aik dia pun ada blog jugak. igtkan along jek.. ;)
heh... musti la ada blog.. tapi update nya tak sekerap dia punya...
Post a Comment