Munich – 7/3/12 to
14/3/12
I arrived in Munich from Liechtenstein on Wednesday evening,
and went straight to the Wombats Hostel.
I spent the next day, Thursday, relaxing – located Games Workshop,
bought a German SIM and in the evening went to the Augustiner Brauhaus for
dinner, where I got chatting with a group of French girls, who were all very
friendly and were visiting on a college trip.
My View of the Barber of Seville:
The Operhaus after the Opera, advertising their upcoming Ring Cycle
I took this shot, and was told that photograpgy was forbidden: :-/
On Friday I bought some Bayern Gear and went to GW, where I had a great game, I lost, but my opponent was a really great sport, and it was still a very enjoyable game.I spent the evening at the Opera, which was amazing – I saw the Barber of Seville, half-sitting on one of the cheaper seats (which is more like a perch) near the back, which was really quite comfortable because it let me shift position more easily.After the Opera, I did my washing.
My Tank in the warhamer game:
On Saturday, I had the FCB game against TSV 1899 Hoffenheim, which Bayern won 7-1 (5-0)!!!!!!! I spent the evening recovering at the hostel! The game started off with Bayern dominating possession. Gomez scored after 5 minutes, with some brilliant work from Ribéry on the left. The game stayed on Bayern’s terms with Goals from Robben (12), Kroos (18), Robben (again, 29), and Gomez (again, 35) with the score at half time 5-0. Gomez completed his hat-trick shortly after the break (48), and Ribéry made it 7-0 in the 58th Minute. The rest of the game was very much dominated by Bayern, but they weren’t playing at the same intensity of the earlier stages. Schweinsteiger made his return from injury which was nice, as I missed out on seeing him last time I was at a Bayern game. The only incident of note later on, was when Luiz Gustavo (the waste of space in the Bayern team) gave the ball away to Ryan Babel of Hoffenheim, and in his haste to right the wrong, he put the ball past Neuer into the empty net :-/ didn’t do a good job of getting into my good books.
Me outside the Allianz Arena:
My Ticket for the Match!!!
The stadium when I arrived...
The Stadium at Kick off:
Teams lining up before the game:
1899 Corner:
On Sunday, I went to the Säbner Straße to see the training, and while I was chatting with some people there, they persuaded me to try and get a ticket for the Champions League game vs. FC Basel on Tuesday, I thought that I should give it a shot, so I sent the Mitglieder (membership) department an email saying that I was a Bayern Member from Australia and I would like to get a ticket to the Champions League match. That evening I had dinner with a friend I met at the Säbner Straße.
On Monday, I went to the Säbner Straße to see about a ticket for the Champions League game, I went into the office to follow up, and the person who served me when I explained that I was from Australia said “you’re Mr Campbell?”, which of course I was, she had just received my email, and was already seeing what she could do. I managed to get a ticket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I might have been just a tad excited)
The Service center of the Säbner Straße facility.
I then went off to the Allianz Arena, where I did the tour of the Stadium. I learnt lots of interesting titbits about the Arena, firstly the reason why the maximum capacity changes from 69,000-66,000 from Bundesliga to Champions League games, is caused by the “standing room” areas being fitted with seats, as UEFA and FIFA don’t permit standing room for their games. There are also 4 changing rooms in the stadium, 2 on each side of the tunnel to the pitch, if 1860 Munich have a home game, then their opponents will change in the away teams changing rooms on the Bayern side of the tunnel, and if Bayern have a home game, then vice versa.
The "Crocodiles Mouth", where the teams meet, before heading up to the pitch (above and behind my position):
Me with the door of the FCB changerooms:
After finishing the tour (and buying more FCB gear, this time at the FCB Megastore in the Arena), I went back to the Säbner Straße to see off the team, where I got pics with Neuer, Schweinsteiger and Heynkes.
Me with "Manu" Manuel Neuer, the 'keeper:
Me with "don Jupp", Jupp Heynkes, the Coach
On Tuesday, I had, of course, a ticket to the Champions League game at the Allianz Arena, and I decided that I'd go to the Olympiastadion, which was Bayerns home ground before the Allianz Arena. I thought that it wasn't that good, a bit old and tattered, the green seats didn't help much. There was also an event coming up (no idea what), and the football pitch had been replaced with sand, and they were laying down some cement for it.
The Olympiastadion, they were laying cement down for an event:
From there, I went back to the Hostel and prepared for the match.
I got to the ground early, and even met some very friendly Basel fans on my way in (there's a photo further down the page). My seat this match was about the same height as on Saturday, but behind the goal. The atmosphere was amazing, I had a really nice German Couple sitting next to me, and at half time they wanted their picture with me! Anyway, on to the game. This was the 2nd Leg of the Round of 16, Bayern had lost 1-0 in Basel, and needed to win. 1-0 would force extra time, and then, if needed, a Penalty shootout, a 2 goal win for Bayern would mean they go through, however if Bayern won by 1 goal (2-1, 3-2, 4-3, etc...) then Basel would go through on Away Goals. So if Bayern were only 2 goals up in the last 10 minutes, then I'd be very worried, as Bayern had conceded a few late goals in the games leading up to this one. Turned out, I had no need to worry. Bayern were 3-0 up at Half Time with goals to Robben (10), Müller (42), and Gomez (44). After the break, Bayern kept the foot down with goals to Gomez (50, 61, 67 - the joint fastest Champions League 4 goal haul), and a 63rd minute attempt by Frei being chalked off for handball, and in the 81st minute Robben finished off a brilliant night with his 2nd. A brilliant couple of games to have seen. I went back to the hostel buzing, and really happy with the result.
Here are the links to the FCB Match Reports of the games
Hoffenheim:
Basel:
My Champions League match ticket:
The stadium before the match:
Some very nice people from Basel:
The stadium when I arived:
The lineups before kick-off:
Scoreboard, with the Corner stat up:
The Match officials after the game
The Train station after the game, game of Sardines anyone?
At the end of this week of German football, on Wednesday, I went to the Säbner Straße, to watch some of the training before I left. I then caught the Train to Koblenz, I started out in a compartment with 2 Basel Fans, and ended up chatting with a really nice chap from Stuttgart.
Me with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
The Trainign Facility and ground:
Players Training: (from L-R: Unknown (in Black), Rafhina (behind man in Black), Unknown, Usami, Petersen, Unknown, Pranjic, Unknown (in Black), Schweinsteiger, Tymoshshuk)
Berni the Bear:
All in all, a great week in one of my favourite places (After Liechtenstein).
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