Community Shield Derby at Wembley Stadium

The previous time I was in Wembley in May, it was merely to soak in the atmosphere. The only opportunities that I could see to put myself in for a match in Wembley were two – the first being the Community Shield and the second being the friendly between England and Holland. I can’t possibly go for both because they fall one day after the other and this would have meant an expensive overnight stay in London. In the end, I picked the Community Shield match on 7^th August since it’s a very delicious derby matchup between United and City. Not only that three milestones would have been fulfilled within one swoop: Wembley match, derby match and a Community Shield match.

I had purposely renewed my United membership for another year in order to have the chance to bid for the August games in the new season.  I was quite delighted when I managed to secure a place but I suppose many English folks don’t look highly on a Community Shield match and hence, the relative easiness in getting tickets. In addition, the usual away-match ruling for tickets sale was waivered for Community Shield and this contributed to my opportunity in getting a seat at Wembley. Since it’s a Sunday, I also wanted to make time to go to church. It’s a perfect chance, and I would say, the only chance that I have in my last month in the UK to go for a service at Hillsongs London church. They have a couple of services throughout the day and the one that I am aiming for is the 11am. It would end at around 1pm and I would have just enough time of about 1hr or so to get to Wembley. To do that, I would have to hitch a ride on the 6am London bus. On the day itself, there was this fat ‘lil kid on the bus who somehow had severe motion sickness sitting on the bus and he kept running to the bus toilet to vomit.  Now, my seat is located just beside the toilet door and every time he rushes to the toilet, I’m jolted from my sleep. I have to say, I’m quite ‘disturbed’ by the poor boy’s vomiting groans. This went on for the whole journey and his mom was feeling quite helpless to do anything but to comfort him. I was quite glad to reach the London Victoria bus station and I quickly moved off to take the tube to Tottenham Court Road where the Hillsong London church is located. I arrived slightly later than expected but thankfully there were seats.  Ahhh, I can immediately spot the difference in Hillsong London where it seems that the congregation is much more multi-cultural. After a refreshing dose of worship (apparently lots of new songs from Hillsongs which I’m not familiar with) and the sermon, it’s time to head out to Wembley for the first derby match of the new season.

On the way there, I made sure that I do not make the mistake of getting into a carriage filled with City fans. Security at every station is on a high alert because of the volatile nature of the derby match where fights may erupt at anytime and any place. Once I reached the outside grounds of Wembley, I immediately went to get the match programme book. I was kinda worried at first that the match programmes will be sold out like the ones during the Champions League final but there’s actually nothing to worry about because there’s plenty to go around. The community shield match programme is priced at £5 each. Since I’ve not eaten anything yet, I grabbed some fries from the food stall and afterwards proceed to join the snaking crowd into the stadium. It was thoroughly packed at the grounds and there’s this carnival-like atmosphere and the police brought in the their horse squad for crowd control. For law and order purposes, both sets of fans were split into two lines from the start of the stadium grounds. It was obvious that the United line was more congested of the two from the ground level as I walked up the steps. It was the most apparent as I reached the stadium and had a look over the balcony at the huge amount of people still snaking in. City’s line was just a sporadic spread while United’s line is a meaty bunch. The police stood in the middle of the demilitarized strip. Occasionally, a fan or two would test the patience of the police by goading the other side with insults and fist-raising. After feeling satisfied loitering around to check out the atmosphere, I went to find the gate that I’m entering. The Wembley electronic ticketing gates are fantastic-looking – one scan and I’m in.  It took me a little while to figure out where I was sitting because my section is already quite filled up. I sat at the wrong place at first, and only realised that when someone who was supposed to sit there nudged me off. I rechecked my seat numbering again and subsequently found the correct place to sit. Upon taking my seat, I discovered that my neighbours on my left were a pair of British Chinese brothers. Ahhhhh..this is very convenient indeed for my photo-taking request later on during half-time. I took the opportunity to savour my first moments inside a Wembley football match. It’s electric and both giant screens on both ends were visibly imposing, like a giant DVD screen.

We had some pre-match entertainment by a band and the giant screen did play a Sky Sports style pre-match video to heighten up the tension. When the players’ names were announced, their pictures were simultaneously projected on the giant screen. It was clear that by the time the first whistle was blown, the United area was pretty full while there were many pockets of empty spaces at City’s side. Our United fans were chanting,”The City is Yours, the City is yourssssss..25,000 empty seats, are you for sure?!” However, the optimistic mockery of the Blue Moon was cut short.  Lescott stunned our side at the 38^th minute by making it 1-0. And just before the end of the first half, Dzeko fired a long range shot which De Gea should have catched it easily. From our position behind him, it looked like a really weak goal to concede.

With the score at 0-2 at half-time, it was a horrendous time for any United fan at Wembley right now. For me, I just thought that “oh well, perhaps I’ll just enjoy the day out and maybe stay back after the match as one of the minority few to see Man City lift the shield.” Little did I expect what were to transpire later. While waiting at half-time, the stadium was treated to a funny sight – James Holden aka Smithy attempting to take a penalty kick. And he did score in the end and celebrated in style too! Lol. I also took the chance to ask my neighbours to take a couple of photos for me as evidence of my time at Wembley :D 

Smalling’s header puts the score at 1-2 at around the 52^nd minute. At that point of time, there was hope for an equaliser. We need not wait for long when Nani broke free of the City defence 6 minutes later to equalise 2-2. We’ve clawed backkkk! From now on, it’s a sudden death situation. Whoever scores the next goal will most probably win the match. As the clock ticks to the 90^th minute, there was still no sign of anyone having the edge to score the winner. Everyone in the stadium was prepared to sit in for a penalty shoot-out.  Out of nowhere, it’s Nani again and as the ball bobbled to past the line, the United section of Wembley erupted into an ecstacy of cheers!

The final whistle blown and yes, what a game! United overturned the 2 goal deficit to win 3-2 in the end! In your face Cityyyyyyy! You screwed up a 2-0 lead! Our side turned out to be the winner afterall..lol. Although it’s not a major competition, at least I had the opportunity to see a cup presentation ceremony in Wembley and also the cup celebration that follows afterthat. Vidic led the United up the steps of the Wembley stadium while the City side emptied themselves from their seats. It’s the first official match of the footballing season and what better way than to start the season well with a win over the noisy neighbours.

I stayed as long as possible in the stadium so as to have the opportunity to take a picture of an empty Wembley stadium. By the time I finished taking the photos that I like, the stewards were already urging everyone to go out of the stadium. I took a walk back to the Wembley Tube station and along the way, I noticed a lot of verbal sparring between both Manchesters. It was a trip back to the London city centre and since my bus will only come late at night at 9pm, I have time to enjoy what is probably my last few hours in London of my life. There’s still 3 more weeks before I leave but after today, the schedule won’t permit me to return back to London anymore. Oh well, I won’t know when I will have the chance to come to London again. With that remaining time, I went to the souvenir shop to see what kind of Britannia themed things I can get for friends back home. I took some time to enjoy Piccadilly Circus and then it’s a one-way bus trip out of London. Overall, I would say that the Hillsong service coupled with the Manchester derby at Wembley stadium makes it a great ending to my time at London.

Farewell Scholes!

 He scores goals galore, he’s Paul Scholes! He scores goals galore, he’s Paul Scholes! He scores goals galore, he’s Paul Scholes! Oh Paul Scholes he scores goalssss..

Two United players retired at the end of the season 2010/2011 and I was frustrated in May ‘cos I couldn’t be there at Old Trafford to send off Gary Neville off due to final exams. So, I made it a point that I’ll keep tabs on the Paul Scholes testimonial very closely.  The moment the sales for the testimonial match open, I quickly rushed to apply for the ticket. It seems that they are opening up the whole stadium on a free seating basis, so I can choose any seat in the stadium on a first come first serve basis. Since I’m one of the few there to purchase the tickets when sale opened, I had the opportunity to pick the VIP seats which were not available to the general public on regular match days. I reckon that this is one of the rare opportunities that I will get to obtain the best view of a match at Old Trafford without paying big bucks for it.

The opponents for the Scholes testimonial will be the New York Cosmos managed by another United legendary player, King Eric Cantona. A couple of old legends – foe and friends alike of Scholes will be playing on the NY Cosmos side.  The match is scheduled to kick-off at 7.30pm on 5^th August but I’ve arranged for an earlier bus at 2.30pm coz I wanted to settle some shirt printing business at the Nike Manchester shop. I’ve decided to pick the bus to go there since it’s comes at a super cheap price of £2.50 and the time taken for the bus journey from Leeds to Manchester is around 1hr++, not much of a difference from the train which costs almost double the price. However, the return trip would have to be by train since it is easier to connect to the national train after coming out of the Manchester train. Since the match will end late at night, I doubt that I would be able to reach the bus station in time. 

On the day itself, I reached Manchester as scheduled. I’ve finally made the decision on whose number print after deliberating for one whole season and I’ve decided that it should be Scholes since that would be the last full-season career jersey that he would be wearing. Not only that, with Scholesey retiring, there won’t be any opportunity to print his name on any future shirts anymore. So, I guess it will be a fitting tribute for me to print my shirt in honour of him. Now, one of the reasons why I’ve held out so long to print the shirt is because I’ve difficulty finding a place in Manchester that will give me the authentic player size Lextra shirt printing. Apparently all-printing  at Old Trafford is replica size..ish! And yesh, Nike Manchester has an underground level where their shirt printing facility is located and the funny thing is that they print for both City and United although City have their own merchandise shop a few blocks away. After getting my shirt printing, it’s time to make my way to the stadium.   

At Old Trafford, I had to make my way to the ticketing office to get my match ticket. This is because when I bought the match ticket, I entered the delivery address as my Uni accommodation instead of the current place I’m lodging at. I did went back to Sentinel Towers to inquire whether they kept any mail for me but apparently , the office will forward the mail back to the bank address and that could take months.  Gahhhhh, this is as good as the mail getting lost forever on a loop. I told the United customer service of my problem and they’ve arranged for me to collect it from the spot instead. Since I’ve got a little bit of time left, I went inside the megastore to purchase the new season’s kit which I kinda like because the design reminds me of the 2001 kit.

It took me quite some time to find out which entrance I should take to enter my seating area.  I went to check through all the regular entrances of the north side but none of them listed the entrance gate number on my ticket. Finally, I found my entrance to be the one located at the entrance of the museum tour, because my seating area is actually the Manchester suite! Wooootss! Ahhh, now it makes sense considering my seat is VIP and hence, I definitely have to enter through that entrance. The usherers for the Manchester suite were all suited up instead of the regular gatekeepers. I can see why anyone who goes through that entrance would feel very VIP indeed. So I took the escalators up to the suite and upon entrance - wow, the waiting area in the suite is TOTALLY different from the regular stands. It feels more like a ballroom with tables and even the Bar selling beer is a class on its own with the bartenders all dressed up too. In comparison, the Bar counters at the regular stand look like the typical movie counter selling popcorn. Scattered around the luxurious waiting area are artistic pictures of former and present United players in training. I went to check out the toilet too, and yes, it’s a class on its own compared to the ones which the regular masses use.

I’m not interested in getting any refreshments, so I’ll just head into the stadium. It seems that there’s gonna be another giant mural on display for Scholes. All the seats at my side were equipped with the plastic sheets just like the Champions League semi-final which I had attended earlier. While waiting, I used my camera to zoom in on the players and checked them out. The match programme had listed out the players that are going to turn up for New York Cosmos and it’s a very delicious bunch indeed. Most notable are the reunion of Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira on the same side. The other old fellas are Brad Friedel, Michael Salgado, Nicky Butt, Fabio Cannavaro and Dwight Yorke. The strangest inclusion is Gary Neville – who (nobody would have imagined) is playing on the same side with Vieira and against United in a rare occasion. Unfortunately, it looks like Beckham did not make an appearance for Scholes as he did for Neville. Even more legendary at the VIP stands sitting alongside King Eric is the appearance of Pele. For United, I get to have a first glimpse of the new additions to the squad – De Gea and Ashley Young at the starting line-up. Another United new boy, Jones is on the substitute bench.  

The testimonial got off to a start with the entrance by Scholes and his family. Of course, the whole stadium joined in chanting the famous Scholes chant. It did not take long for Scholes to make a statement in the match. At around the 9th minute, he pumped in his trademark rocket shot to score the 1^st goal of the match. Woahhhhhh, it’s almost as if everything is scripted for the game – Scholes bowing out of the beautiful game with the most dramatic fashion – doing what he does best. I would have thought that vital players like Rooney will sit out from this match because the Community Shield match against City is just days away but it seems that he’s joining in the fun by starting the game and scoring a penalty from the spot. At half time, Vidic, Ferdinand, De Gea, Berbatov and Rafael were removed presumably to rest them for the upcoming match. For the second half, 4 more goals were scored with 1 from Anderson, 1 from Welbeck and 2 from Mame Diouf. Scholesey himself was subbed off at the 74^th minute for the final time in his career and it was a standing ovation for the loyal servant of United as he made his way off the field for the last time. I guess after this, there’ll be no turning back to the field that he’s so familiar with. The match ended 6-0 in favour of United and Scholes did a final lap of honour around the 4 corners of Old Trafford with his family.

Well, it’s a privilege for me to have the opportunity to be there personally at Old Trafford to bid farewell to Paul Scholes. He has been such an integral part of the squad. He has occupied the major part of my years of following football and suffice to say, he’s part of my growing up years. To see him finally hang up his boots is almost like closing a mini chapter, a signal that I’m growing old too. The one thing I’ve always admired about Scholes is his humble character despite his piles of achievement as a professional football player. I can see that his family meant a lot to him, given that he has chosen to have them alongside him as he made his last round around Old Trafford. There will never be another player like him who would grace the Theatre of Dreams. You may have another star midfielder who will rise up and be a first-team member but you’ll never get the same class of style and personality like Scholes. Thanks for the memories Paul. The Ginger Prince, United Legend, Loyal Servant, England’s Midfield Maestro and Model Professional - we salute you. 

London Stadium Grounds Visit

It’s time to put another of my milestone aims to task. My trips to London have not crossed path of the football stadiums yet. I knew I had to make a stadium tour of the major clubs in London at some point of time. Of course, the two biggest ones are Chelsea and Arsenal. There are also other major ones such as Tottenham, Fulham and West Ham. I’ve decided that these are the 5 club stadiums that I would slot in for the tour since all of them are the London clubs in the previous Premier League season. West Ham is no longer in the Premier League now but nevertheless, it’ll still be worthwhile to visit because of its famed academy. There won’t be time to enter and visit every individual stadium tour so, I was thinking that I might just pick either Chelsea or Arsenal for internal scrutiny if there are extra time to waste. 2^nd August was the best date I could find after perusing through the right date in the tight schedule of remaining time left.

It was the usual bus trip to London and I reached at about late morning. I did an analysis of the route that I should be taking from the Internet, and I’ve drafted the route in such a way that I won’t have to travel double times over a certain area. To start off, the first London stadium on the list is West Ham at Upton Park since it’s located at East London. Among all the stadiums it’s the furthest away from Central London. When I came out of the Upton Park station, I was greeted by a sight that’s common in Bradistan. The place is full of Pakistani and South Asians. The West Ham stadium was not far away and I did not need to walk far from the Tube station. I would say West Ham have a fine home indeed. The West Ham Academy is prominent in England, so the first thing that visitors see as they walk through the gates is the entrance to the Academy. The stadium grounds also had a sizeable car park. I went in to check out their megastore. Lol, apparently they are getting ready to print out Championship styled numberings for their shirts. The other thing that West Ham can be proud of and highlighted in their megastore is the fact that World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore is a firm faithful player of the club. After taking the necessary photos, I left the blue and maroon ground and made my way through the Tube route to North East London.

North East London houses two rivals in the premier league – Tottenham and Arsenal. Spurs’ White Hart Lane is second on my list and this is followed by Arsenal in no.3. But alas, White Hart Lane is not connected directly by the Tube and it would require an interchange to the national rail track. Ahhhh, at first I was ok with that interchange but after having trouble finding the exchanging station, I decided to just walk to White Hart Lane since there are signboards pointing that direction. I was starving by then, so I popped into Tesco to grab some potato chips and drinks. It’s a long walk, so I munched along the way. From my observation, North East London is another world on its own - this time populated by British African and Caribbean folks. When I reach WHL’s area, I did not spot the stadium right away but only the Spurs merchandise shop. As I went nearer, I spotted the towering stadium over the other smaller buildings. It took me quite a while before spotting the main entrance to WHL and it seems that if one wants to go to the stadium compound, he would have to sign up at the guard house at the gate. There seems to be no other way in and that kinda put me off in entering. WHL is probably the most unfriendly stadium since visitors can’t get to have a free look without going through the guarded gate. The only thing I did was to walk a full circumference around the stadium and there ain’t much to see. I managed to find the national rail station on the way back and I took a train to the nearest Tube station to save time.

For the Gooners, I stopped at the Arsenal tube station, obviously named after the club. It was stated at the station that the old name was Gillespie Road in the 1930s. I used to think that the Emirates is very far away from the old Highbury site but apparently they are very near, just different directions to start off from the station. Of course, I grew up knowing about Highbury, so it’s only proper to pay a visit to Arsenal’s original home. A quick swing to the left and some walking distance among a squeezy housing area lies Highbury. The entire stadium is demolished for a new block of apartments but the East Stand of Highbury is retained. After exploring what remains of Highbury, I walked towards the Emirates which is located at the right hand side of the station. Since the stadium is located across some railway tracks, I needed to cross a bridge to reach it. I have to say, the Emirates is a fantastic-looking stadium. There’s a massive amount of space surrounding the stadium and on the stadium walls are giant murals of legendary Gooners. I was actually thinking of paying to enter the stadium and have a look inside the museum and interior of the Emirates but after considering, I didn’t go in the end because I may not have enough time to settle the last 2 on my list. Before I leave Ashburton Grove, I quickly went into the Arsenal megastore before it closes for the day to grab a souvenir for chippy Alvin since he’s a massive Gooner fan.

Chelsea and Fulham are located at the South West section of London. I picked to visit Fulham first since it’s another stadium which is not located near the Tube station. I had to make the long walk for almost 15 minutes before I managed to reach Craven Cottage which is nestled in among some nice-looking housing area. Ah, the irony of life. Anfield, such a massive historical venue is surrounded by council houses while Craven Cottage, a much more humble above is located in a rather affluent area in London. The interesting part of Craven Cottage which I did not realise until I’m there is that it’s actually located beside the Thames River. Something not to be missed when one is at Craven Cottage is the Michael Jackson statue. I was surprised not to find it at the front section of the stadium. Instead, I had to walk towards the Thames River side and peered through the gaps of the gate and find it facing the river..lol.

It was another lengthy walk back to the Fulham Broadway station, the place where I started from and my last stop of the day is Stamford Bridge. Thankfully, it’s only 5 minutes away from the station and yes, I would say that Stamford Bridge is another admirable structure. It is also of no coincidence that I discovered Chelsea to be located in an ‘atas’ area. The stadium compound houses several other club buildings. By the time I reached the Bridge, it was almost 6pm+, so the official store is closed and so is their museum. What I did was just to scout the various parts of the stadium compound. As I was walking, I can’t help chuckling at giant advert posters of Torres with his Chelski team-mates. He was the same dude who once adorned the walks of Anfield..hahahaha.

Ahhhhhh, that concludes my personal tour of the London stadiums. All 5 covered just in time before the sun sets. I was super thirsty by the time I went to the Fulham Broadway Tube Station, so I popped inside Sainsburry to buy some fruit juices. The bus was only due at 9pm, so I had a long wait at the bus station and suffice to say, it was 1am in the morning when I reach Leeds. No problem on the late hours, since it’s a free and easy time and I've got nothing on.

Man Utd Champ19ns Parade

More football moments to follow up as I head down to Manchester for the 19^th title bus parade. Manchester City had held theirs earlier last weekend for their FA Cup win, so there is no way United is gonna let this opportunity pass after permission to parade the Double in 2008 was denied. In the morning, I missed my intended booked train as I had overslept past my alarm. Arghh! £5 ticket wasted and another £10 on-the-day ticket needed to be bought. When I reached Manchester, it was already drizzling. Looks like today’s parade is gonna be very wet. It was quite early when I arrived so I took the opportunity to scout ahead for the parade route and decide where would be the best place to stand. I took shelter under the bridge for an hour from the rain and then proceeded to stand near the main road when the time for the start of the parade drew nearer.

The rain certainly did not draw a big crowd to wait at the side of the road. It’s quite a hassle to hold the camera and the umbrella at the same time. It was only around 11am that the bus started to move from its starting point in a small crawl. As it draws nearer to where I’m standing, the crowd surrounding it began to grow larger. I managed to get clear glimpses of the Da Silva twins, Park, Nani, Berbatov, Ferdinand and Hernandez as the bus moved right in front of me. The good camera that I have enabled me to get a few good close-up shots. Instead of just standing there as the bus begin to pull away, I followed the crowd to march alongside the bus. It’s pretty much like looking at the incoming crowd and getting swept away by the incoming torrent. Because the bus is moving so slowly, I had the opportunity to circle it a few times to get various angle shots of the bus. On the other side which I did not capture initially was van der Sar, Vidic, Owen and Scholes. I saw Bebe perched in the centre beside the trophy and I’m sure many watching the parade will ask,”Why are you there, Bebe?!” Lol. One of the noisiest among the bus crew is Evra who’s like cheerleading captain who rouses the crowd below to do a couple of chants.

There were a couple of times when I was in danger of lagging behind because of the crowd blockage in front but I make several detours from time to time to keep up. The bus then went to the highway connecting the city centre with Trafford. The drizzle intensified a little but the crowd marched on. There was once when one of the MUTV video camera seemed to be pointing my direction..lol. Looks like I’m going to be on video after all! It finally came to a point where I can’t tail the bus anymore because a large crowd was already waiting in front of Old Trafford. The chasing pack with the bus was redirected to another road where we saw the team disappear into the waiting crowd in front of the stadium. Ahhh, that ends my walk in the parade. I can’t believe that I’ve walked an hour from the city centre to the stadium! Because of all the excitement, I didn’t know how far I’ve walked too.

In any case, I can’t walk back the same way so I took the standard tram back after buying some stuff at the official merchandise shop. I kinda placed my train a little too late ahead just to ensure that I don’t get caught out. Since I’m there 2 hrs early, I just sat down at the seats and dozed off. When I woke up, I left my seat and forgot that I bought a poster from the Man Utd shop. Darnnnnn, when I realised that, I went back to find it but apparently someone took it away. Gahhh, that’s 3 pounds down the drain! Despite my several minor mishaps today from missing the train to losing my poster, it’s still a memorable rainy day. Yet another milestone achieved in England itself, and it’s a feat which may never be repeated by other Malaysians – to march alongside the Red Mancunians under the rain for 19^th title parade.

Just a little reflection here, considering that I didn’t blog about the historic milestone given that the trophy ceremony fell very close to my exams. In knocking off Liverpool from their perch, United can be officially considered now as the most successful domestic English side. But cynics have noted throughout the campaign that this 19^th-title winning squad is one of the weakest that Fergie has fielded. There was discontentment to deal with from Rooney, and the general perception was that the team lacked the star power. Looking back, it’s quite amusing really to see that the other rivals ended up performing worse than this so-called lousy team..haha. In the end, this team also made it to the Champions League final, something which a certain Spaniard striker failed to do for his new Blue team. It’s not a star-studded team, but it’s certainly one which worked hard. Ultimately in the end, Fergie knew he had to inject in new talent. Teamwork is already there. Now there’s a need to reinstall individuals that can make things happen. The current team has the traditional values of an English team, hardworking and determined but it fell short of the star power requirements in elimination cup games as shown by the two defeats in the FA Cup semis and CL Final. With Paul and Edwin retired, it’ll be interesting to see who’s coming in next to Old Trafford.

Adventure in Wembley

I didn't get a ticket to enter the stadium to watch the Champions League final, but that shouldn't stop me from making a trip down to London to soak up the atmosphere in the first place. There is never a better coincidence than me being in England and the Champions League final being held in London at the same time. I don't think I'll ever live to see another coincidence like that. Since I was occupied with exams earlier, I didn’t book any early train tickets to London. Apparently the rail authorities knew that there is gonna be a Champions League final and even though I attempted to book it one week earlier, the prices are still exorbitant at around £25. With that amount, I could easily fly to Europe! Where were the £6.50 tickets that Leo had booked earlier? Arghhh..the best I could do to save cost was to get the earliest bus at £17 and then a return train ticket at 10pm at £13. If I had booked the coach earlier, it would have just been £6.50. The whole planning of transportation this time made me realise that Brits always plan their journeys in advanced – by weeks so as to save cost.

Anyways, the bus was scheduled to leave at 5.40am and I didn’t really sleep much for fear that I may get stuck in a deep slumber. I decided to make a move earlier also because I needed to get the train tickets from the Leeds rail station. Once I’ve gotten there, I went as usual to the machine to get the tickets but to my horror, the machine started demanding a reference number which I’ve never encountered before. It seems that such occurences exist if I had booked more than 1 destination. Argghh..it was a moment of panic because in 15 minutes time, the bus is leaving. The ticket office can’t do anything without the reference number and my only saving grace was the phone internet that I have which I can use to log onto Gmail to retrieve the reference. But logging on also need time, and I don’t have that. I started to smack myself at that time because I could have picked the collection point at King’s Cross Station. It was pointed out that we are not allowed to pick another collection point other than the one selected online. This would ultimately mean that my return tickets are nullified and I may have to purchase new ones. Greatttt…more money is gonna get wasted, and not only mine but also JP’s. In the end, I resolved to run off catch the bus instead and chose to bank on a slim hope that I may still be able to retrieve the tickets from KC station. I calculated that it makes no sense if one is not able to collect from the station one is leaving eventhough a different collection point is selected.

I slept for the whole bus journey and the 4hrs just went away. When I woke up, I found myself in London. I quickly made my way to the Victoria Tube station as the first priority now is to get to KC station to resolve the ticket issue. We need a way back home! Inside the Victoria tube station, there were Barca fans everywhere. It was as if the whole place just turned into a Catalan Metro. Once I’ve reached KC station, I went to the machine and punched in the reference number ( I managed to went online in the bus). And to my relief, the machine printed out the tickets! WHEW! Thank God! It was fortunate that we kept calm and did not rush to buy another bus ticket to return. With that issue firmly solved, we could now properly direct our attention to enjoy the Champions League final atmosphere in the English capital.

First up, we decided to go to Hyde Park to visit the free Champions League Festival exhibition there. Today is the last day it is gonna be up and we thought that we should definitely get going there before it closes at 5pm. This is only the 3^rd time they are holding such an exhibition and it features lots of stuff relating to the elite European football competition. The Champions League trophy will also be on display and also other museum pieces from the former players. When we reached the site, we could see that the whole area is flooded with either United or Barca fans. One of the first areas we went to explore was the ‘Champions Theatre’ where it’s something like a movie theatre which showcases prominent matches and players. Afterthat, we checked out the rest of the exhibits such as the players museum. I wanted to take a photo with the Champions League trophy but the queue is just too long. Another interesting that was going on in Hyde Park was a futsal match which was held in a “mini stadium” in the middle of the festival. It involves past stars where England XI is pitched against The rest of the World XI. Andy Cole, Sheringham, Dwight Yorke, Dennis Wise, Cafu, the de Boer twins, Darren Anderton and Jay Jay Okocha were some of the famous names that were there. The line queue to the souvenir shop was super long too but I managed to squeeze in to grab myself an official matchday scarf to commemorate the day. Once we are done exploring the festival, it was time to make our way to the venue itself – Wembley Stadium.

It wasn’t easy getting onto the trains because scores of Barca fans are being loaded inside. There were some United fans but a majority of them are Barca. I figured out that the higher amount of Barca fans in the train is due to the fact that the Spaniards are travelling from abroad while the English United fans basically just have to drive down the highway using their cars. Upon reaching the Wembley Park station, I could feel the chaotic rush surrounding the station. In the horizon as seen from the station was Wembley Stadium and the entire path leading there was just filled with tons of people. It could easily have reached more than 100k people at that place alone considering that Wembley’s capacity is at 90k. It seems that we are not the only ones without tickets who are going to linger outside the stadium just to get a feel of the atmosphere. The weather was pretty bad as it was drizzling all the way but it’s not that heavy to the extent that an umbrella was needed. I attempted to get the matchday programme on the way to the stadium but it seems that they were all sold out. I had to go right to the outside of the stadium before I spotted a booth with new batches of matchday programmes coming in. UEFA is definitely making money out of this – each programme costs £10! Ahhh, it’s an important historical document for me to archive, so I didn’t mind getting one for myself.

After feeling satisfied absorbing the atmosphere and taking some good photos in the process, we made our way back to KC station. We planned to watch it at a nearby pub near the station so that once the match ended, we can easily get onto the train since we don’t have much time between the final whistle and train departure. We didn’t really scout the place and we weren’t even sure if we could find one. Fortunately, we managed to grab a spot (one of the last areas) at a restaurant near Euston Road Premier Inn. I bought myself a pint of Pepsi and some wedges and I’m ready for the match.

To be honest, I’ve always felt United to be the underdog in this match given the composition of their squad. As such, I wasn’t surprise when Barca first took the lead through Pedro. Just like in 2009, United had started the first 10 minutes well, but somehow Barca still managed to dominate in the end. Rooney’s equaliser brought fresh hopes that United may just turn it around. But it wasn’t to be. Messi dazzled the crowd once again when he fired one from outside the box to give Barca the lead. One could said that van der Sar should have dealt with it better but I say that it’s one piece of magic from the Argentinian maestro that nobody could stop. David Villa put a definite end to any hope on United’s part to equalise when he slotted in the 3^rd. Once again, United did not have enough steam to deal with the Catalan juggernaut.

The Wembley adventure did not just end there. A rude surprise awaits us at the train station when we found out that the train to Leeds is cancelled and the next train would be the next morning. A group of folks were furious as they gather around the train office. The train company offered no definite solutions, and their suggestions required us to fork out some money and they reimburse us afterthat. I know very well that red tape will mean that reimbursement will take forever. The group of us continued to pressure the office until they relented to provide us with free taxi rides home from a designated train station. All the commotion saw us reaching Leeds Rail Station only at 2am in the morning, 2hrs after the original scheduled arrival time. Ahhhh, messy..but no complaints there though given that we were reimbursed with a free ride to the station. Overall a tiring day but still a rewarding one indeed to have been there to step onto the venue of a Champions League final.