At the Seamen – game time at last!

To greet us, Roman had a direct knock while putting his suitcase underneath (this happens often) and his knee suffered a little again. We then left the stadium again and lounged around a bit outside the stadium. Then Maria discovered the power party. And it was really different – but somehow nice. The power party in Milan looks like this: There are 2-3 sets of beer benches there. They are by the Argentinian barbecue stand. Next to it is a merch stand and a beer stand. That’s basically it. Then there’s Jack Sparrow staggering around (and yes, he’s totally living the role and you’d think he’s really tight). He looks incredibly real, by the way. And we would see him again later (we didn’t know that). Slowly, the players started to arrive. And they simply walked through the small party mile. The players and other arrivals paused briefly, greeted the Argentinian grill master and the others there, and were also greeted in a very friendly manner by everyone. There was brief small talk, including with us. We were also able to take a photo or two with the players. The ones we knew joined us briefly. Then the players went into the stadium and we thought we wouldn’t see them again until later. We were wrong. The players came out again half-dressed, as did some of the coaches. They got something to eat there and sat down at the beer tables for a short meeting. Yes, really, they sit there next to you and talk about the upcoming game with the documents while they eat something. It was incredibly nice and cozy. And really very informal. The fans stood patiently in front of the entrance (there weren’t many there at the time) and finally we were able to enter the stadium.

Then we were finally there. Where we really wanted to take photos last year, but we just hadn’t made it. The only pity was that there was some construction work going on at the time, so that cranes are clearly visible in front of the skyscrapers in every photo. It’s not too bad, but it is a bit of a shame. We were just able to take a few photos while warming up, then the rain came. And even if it wasn’t heavy, it practically never stopped. It was a constant drizzle. Unfortunately, this also made it extremely humid. But we had to get through it. The circuit around the stadium is really confusing and quite exhausting. But somehow it looks cool. And if you run really fast, it’s really an advantage (at my speed, there’s no effect at all, except that you’re constantly running downhill and uphill … so smokers really get a hard workout). As it was a Saturday night game, it also got dark quite quickly. And that’s when the stadium really shines in all its charm. It’s really pretty. But first came the run-in. And there he was again, the Jack Sparrow from outside. Milan may not have a mascot, but they have him. He consistently plays his role as a drunken pirate. During the run-in, he’s the one holding the smoke flares and running ahead. It looks really cool and is also really funny. In fact, the motif was surprisingly cool!
As always, there are certainly better and more competent reports on the game than I could write. So let’s just skip that.