bayern fan said:
hi there =)
i am reading in this forum for about a year now, but after the match yesterday i decided to sign (i am a 25year old bayern fan from germany)
i have to say that i was really, really impressed with your team last night!
the sheer quality was not surprising for me, because i always rated your team very highly (and i because have a man crush for kun and silva :D) but you surprised with a quality, that i regarded as one of your weaknesses....mentality and 'balls'...
to be honest, after we were 2-0 ahead, i thought that we would score 4 or 5 goals, especially because kompany and yaya weren´t playing and because the situation (arsenal game ahead, "b-team", 0-2 after 12minutes, no chance to finish first in the group) literally screamed "just blow the whistle ref"
but the response of your team was simply outstanding, especially zabaleta, fernandinho and milner impressed me
i´m curious, what did your fans, that went to munich think about the stadium, the city, the people and the beer? :D
so yeah....i just wanted to tell you my respect and i wish you good luck for the premier league (also i favor arsenal because of the german players, i hope you can understand ;)), but i´m crossing my fingers for you to finish 2nd place ;)
This was my first European trip despite me supporting the club since 1977 and thats mainly because I had to give up my season ticket a while ago and now I just don't have enough points to get away game tickets, fortunately I have a fairy godmother who cant go to these aways currently who has kindly donated his tickets to a friend and I. My sole memory from those early years of European Competition was playing Widzew Lodz at Maine Road in the UEFA Cup an evening where I'm sure Donachie cleaned someone out and was sent off in a game where we drew and went out. Just looked and here it is
http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/history/Matches/Match.aspx?id=5029
Never mind any of that as we have no history don't forget.
Went with official tour co Thomas Cooke and was impressed with the organisation.
Flew out of Manchester at 0730 arriving in Munich Josef Strauss at 1020.
Bus into Munich town centre having had my first glimpse of the Allianz on the way. Dropped off at 1100 and left to our own devices and asked to be back on the bus for 1830. Wandered around the Marienplatz stopping for a Gluhwein (keeping the souvenir cup) and wondering if it would be in one piece come the end of the night. Took in the atmosphere of the city centre as there was lots of Blues and Bayern fans all wearing colours intermingling. Its a beautiful old city with lots of references to its medievel past in culture and architecture despite the best attempts of the RAF in 1944!
Walked up to the ice rink and noticed it was getting distinctly busier and the smells of the cooking Kartoffeln and Bratwurst and Onions as well as the many Chocolate confectionary outlets from the Bavarian Huts proved too much and I had to try out my A level German on an unsuspecting wurst seller. Much to my surprise he understood my attempts and provided the appropriately requested "Bratties". Disappointingly my lack of Bavarian accent must have told him I was English (or perhaps it was the City scarf wrapped around my neck) and he wished us luck for the game in English!
We (yes you and I Pete) decided it was time for a pint. I had looked on BM for a clue as to where to head for so was busy trying to track down Augustiner Strasse and the Augustiner Keller. More by luck than judgement we stumbled on said street and wandered past what looked like an eaterie the Augustiner Klosterwirt and there were some Blues outside having a fag so we wandered in. Used my German again to order a Weissbier and a pilsner lager, there was no need however as all the Bavarian attired waitresses spoke English but it's nice to make the effort isn't it? We sat down and had a chat with some Blues from Failsworth but who travel out of Bredbury. They told us they were in there with lots of other blues the previous night and were all kicked out for singing too loud as it was primarily a restaurant and the manager wasn't happy it was lowering the tone - no aggro though. After a couple of beers decided we should have a scoff before going on it having found out that the beer keller we were looking for was on the main thoroughfare that we had already wandered past once!
Went around the corner and bizzarly in a Ferrari shop window was a life sized copy of an F1 race car. Pete took photos (Geek). Went for an Italian whose German waitress displayed some tutonic humour by stating that our sorts weren't welcome today. When we shrugged our shoulders and made to leave she informed us she was only joking. Decent Pizza was had and on leaving she wished us luck with a caveat as "We'd need it!" Despite all these little jibes by the locals I was starting to have a good feeling about the game later. We left and on the way passed a sports shop with two manikins dressed in football kits outside the door entrance one Bayern and one City. It struck me City, my City were in fact properly in the big time of European Football and I smiled to myself.
Straight in the Augustiner Keller properly which was just as you'd imagine a German Bier Keller to be, a large open room on two levels which has a vaulted ceiling with lots of large wooden tables in rows which seated 10. All the tables seemed full and we had a wander around and finally found a table whose owners were just vacating (lucky that). We plonked ourselves down and ordered two, litre glasses of lager. At €14.80 for two it wasn't cheap either! Never the less we had several more. Fans mixed freely in there and there were several Bayern fans sat at a table in front of us and a couple on our table as well. We talked about matchday expectations and possible outcomes and lots of other bollox. It was all friendly in nature with none of the air of animosity and undertones of possible nastiness that you get in some places. The songs got louder and more boisterous with lots of renderings of "Going up, Were going down....." "City going down with a billion in the bank" being the favourites. Our Germanic counterparts were booed when there was no response to "Bayern, Bayern give us a song..." but everyone took it in good heart and all the banter was good natured. Time flew by and soon enough we had to head back to board the coaches for the Allianz.
If you have never seen the Allianz in all its glory at nightime (as I haven't) then seeing it when we arrived was breathtaking. Its a fantastic arena and I was excited as I've ever been about a football game. The inside of the stadium was no disappointment either. The inside looks enormous and you can truly envisage that it seats 680000. Bit of a pain in the arse to have to queue up for a drink and food to find out they don't accept money and you have to buy a card and put money on it in x €5 amounts. This almost ensures they will take additional money to that which you intend to spend although I can see the pros in not having to deal with change and cash in connection with purchases to speed the process up when there are huge queues however its a bit of a shitter for away fans when you're likely never to go back with 6 quid on your card.
I was on the front row of 341 and assisted a couple of fellas put up a flag in front of where I was sat. The flag was a bit like me - seen better days and looking a bit tired around the edges but still displaying its loyalty loud and proud. The City contingent filled 341 - 347 however there were plenty of Bayern fans in with us as well which I didn't understand and although I'd had a few there didn't seem to be any large forms of segregation in force like lines of stewards in high vis vests. I wont give a commentary on the game as we all saw it but I hope we came across well as the Bayern fans didn't seem particularly into it only the ultras with the drums at the other end of the ground. Chants near the end of "We can see you sneaking out" and "Englands No 1" for Joe as he stayed out on the pitch hugging everyone. My voice was rendered to a hoarse loud whisper but it was a fabulous game for my first European away. We came down the long flights of stairs in deafening good voice and made our way through the Munich fans back to the coaches - strangely they didn't hold us in and some of their fans were a bit pissed off but no naughties anywhere as far as I saw.
Overall a fantastic trip, the people of Munich were friendly and welcoming and the atmosphere throughout remained jovial and everybody enjoying a good time. Hope it remained so for the blues who were staying until later in the week.
The trip back was eventless and I was in a taxi heading home at 2 ish - the gluhwein cup made it in one piece as well!
