the game was incredible. it was also my first football game, if you can believe it. the sport, like on tv, is beautiful to watch but it’s even more beautiful to see those crosses live, in mid-air, at the top of olympic stadium. Gate 13, home to the mad boys, is a sight to behold. (but i guess so is any major European fan section.) they led the crowds through every chant the ENTIRE game long. they did not stop. the flares went off when the game started and didn’t stop until 15minutes or 20 in after Djibril Cissé scored for the Greens 35seconds in. 35secs. then he did a round-off-somersault-back-flip-fall-on-his-ass-back-roll and Gate 13 went ape shit, as you can see from the video. The stadium has the capacity for about 71,000 and by the beginning of the 2nd half it was nearly full… so i guess there had to have been 60,000 – 65,000 people in attendance, maybe more. and, in fact, according to THIS WEBSITE, a UEFA EUROPE site, the stadium was indeed 65,000 strong. it’s actually a good article summing up the match better than i can. “Panathinaikos can now concentrate on claiming a ninth league and cup double as they face Aris Thessaloniki FC in the Greek Cup final on 24 April.” wow. pretty cool. Cissé has 23 goals which, according from the TV we watched after the game, is tops in the league. kudos. Sotris Ninis scored the second goal in the 45th minute, a great strike just outside the box, and got himself a yellow card in the 35th. Cissé’s was on a corner cross and didn’t even hit the ground. he’s definitely the fan favourite, though Ninis had the better goal in my opinion… see below, make up your mind.
P.F.C. are the Greek Super League champions for 2009-2010 and this was their last home game. it was a great experience and after the game hundreds of daring fans rushed to the field, amidst the expectations of slouching, fat security guards in neon jackets that lined the field, and surrounded their team. another note on gate 13: i think that the security MUST know what these fans are bringing in and are letting them bring it in. there is zero security in the stands and is especially lax around the wild gate 13. a flare shot off after the first goal and almost hit the Iraklis goalkeeper. it was awesome. i think that’s the only way to really get into sports: be as wild as you want to be without killing someone. there was, also, a real lack of beer. which is great, i think, because a majority of the fans were sober and explains the ability to have fun plus not kill each other or get in fights. they didn’t even sell it in the stands. there was an assload of smoking though but i caught the breeze from the top of the stadium and it was awesome. I did not see an Iraklis jersey all night long.
this whole thing is kind of ironic because i am waking up @ 5:30am to fly to thessaloniki where i will be picked up by a family member and driven to vevi, florina, home of the “old country” and birthplace of my grandparents. i will be MIA until wednesday.
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