My plan was to either take in the Modena vs Albinoleffe in Serie B game or go back into Bologna for their game against Fiorentina both scheduled for that evening but at different times.
I was not expecting to land at Bologna airport and be meet with a huge blanket of snow as far as they eye could see and the ground covered in slush and ice.
Having checked the local paper to see that both games were confirmed as being on (both of the games were on different TV channels so this probably made the difference), I made my way on the airport bus to Modena, a small town I had never visited before. Almost an hour later I was leaving the bus near the centre of town and making my way to my client's house.
After making my delivery I decided to go to my hotel and freshen up ready to explore the town. The weather was mild but a lot of people were heavily wrapped up giving the impression it was a lot colder than it actually was.
Having freshened up I headed over to the Stadio Braglia to have a look around and double check for myself that the game was most definitely on. I spoke to a pleasant steward outside the ground who informed me that the ticket office was to open at 3.30pm, so I took refuge inside the aptly named Bar Stadio (right outside the main entrance) and waited patiently for the ticket office to open while having a lovely pint of Dark Pauliner & a toasted cheese and ham ciabatta.
The ticket office opened bang on time and within 3 minutes I was away from there with my ticket for the game that night safely in my wallet having coughed up the princely sum of €12.00...what a bargain for 2nd division football. The one thing I did notice was that the game that was previously advertised as 19.45 was now kicking off 18.30, that meant I had less than 3 hours to kill before I took in ground number 285.
Modena is a lovely town in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, it's a fairly small town which is dominated at one end by the Cathedral of Modena which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, The shops were open again after their afternoon break and the locals were finishing school and work and spilling onto the cobbled streets. I had a wander around then started to make my way back towards the ground ready for kick off.
As is typical with Italian football, the local police shut most of the surrounding roads close to the stadium, so after a short detour I found myself back at the Bar Stadio, where a crowd had gathered for their pre match coffees and snacks. Kick off was now fast approaching.
I took my seat half way up the Curva Montagnani, which is at the south end of the ground where the Modena Ultras gather. The game kicked off a couple of minutes late due to a minutes silence for a fallen Italian solider in Afghanistan and then were we off. This was 6th from bottom playing host to 3rd from bottom and from the opening 20 minutes you would not of known that Albinoleffe were the team staring relegation to the 3rd tier in the face such was their attacking play...but to no avail and the home team cam back strong for the last 10 minutes but the half ended goalless. A fair size crowd with most gathered in the same end as me. A good 2nd half ended with the hosts having 3 direct free kicks on goal in the last 4 minutes but all of them were saved or wasted and the game drifted to a 0-0. A result that certainly didn't help either team but was probably harder to take for the home fans who vented their frustrations to some of the players and coaching staff as they left the pitch.
So I left the stadium in darkness, after witnessing a good 0-0 but this was my 3rd 0-0 in 5 games, how I long for a goal! (Incidentally Bologna won 2-0, so I would of seen goals if i'd made the journey back to Bologna) I made my way back into town and found a very nice restaurant where I settled down for my evening meal.
All in all a good trip, even if part of it was work, and maybe a city that I will return to one day but having done the ground now not sure what else there is for me here.
Til the next time
No comments:
Post a Comment