Take me home
To a place
Where i belong
To old trafford
To see united
Take me home
United Road"
- Manchester United Champions 06/07
U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E! The experience of watching a live match at Old Trafford (OT).. cannot be described with words. Its simply unbelievable. The atmosphere. The crowd. The buzz. The songs and chants. The banners and flags. and the players and the match.
We had a 2 o'clock class that day and I tried really hard to listen in class for the first 15 mins, then the other 30mins, I was already dreaming of going to OT. We rushed back from class to eat a quick teabreak cos we knew we werent gonna have dinner, and we also prepared food to bring along to the match. Thanks to the experience I had in melbourne of watching football in the cold, I knew that hot soup was a must, and the flask which mummy gave me, came in really handy. Together with the soup, we brought garlic bread and toasts. All of it was eaten during halftime! haha.
Anyway, we made our way to the tram stop at Piccadilly, which is the first stop of the line and guess what. It was packed like sardines. Along the tramline at stations Piccadilly Gardens (the usual stop we walked to) people were dressed in Man Utd Jerseys and T-shirts and Scarfs, and people were actually singing at the tram station. People were singing "we're gonna win the Treble!" Manchester.. is truly a football mad city.
And so we reached OT.. and I'll let the pictures do the talking with some captions:
Along the way were many of these "roadside stalls" which sell scarfs and souvenirs.
We thought we were early... hahahaha... it was only 5:45pm. 2 hours before kickoff!
So we went to shop around abit, and bought this souvenir scarf!
there were almost 100 policemen standing on sir matt busby way. Wenqi didn't dare ask if she could take pictures with them, so i did. then after that i saw his colleague laugh at him.
And some policement were on horses. They were HUGE. Wenqi insisted on taking a photo with them
Since we had somemore time, we went to the Man United Store to walk around. But so did everyone else! it was super crowded.
Into Old Trafford we go...
Beautiful isn't it? Maybe you can't feel it, but I'm sure the Man United fans will understand
Just look at the pitch. Its perfect.
Wenqi with the 5 pound souvenir scarf
Its really exciting to be there. Like you can feel the excitement of everyone in the stadium.
The best photo we have.
Haha.. I chose this photo to show the match programme booklet I bought!
The Lyon players came out to warm up first, and of course, they were warmly greeted with boos. Then when the United players came out, loud cheers rang everywhere!
Preparing for the Champions League Anthem
It was quite hair raising when the anthem was raised. Wonderful experience.
The players emerging from the tunnel ready for kickoff.
eugene, being part of the action. I lost half my voice singing and shouting.
The ball was going to fall for Fletcher (on the extreme right in red), but yes being darren fletcher, he skewed his shot wide
1-0 at halftime with united getting the goal from boy wonder, Cristiano Ronaldo (who else?) (:
Our Mascot, Fred the Red. Egging on the supporters at halftime
After eating all our food and drinking our soup at halftime, its time... to take more pictures!
2nd half - United have a corner, Lyon defence tries to scramble it out, and after some rough and tumble, Coupet safely gathers the ball.
In the end, united won comfortably 1-0, although we could have scored a couple more which would have made the trip even more worth it.
Choruses were sung at the end and United emerged victorious and safely through to the quarter finals of the champions league. Wenqi found a new favourite in Wayne Rooney.
More pictures..
..because...
...75,520 people came to support this big match...
..And that means a SUPER LONG QUEUE TO GO HOME!
Okay.. it was really a great experience. Many thanks to my sister and darren who managed to get tix for us. You guys should go watch one too. its nothing like watching it live.
Please stay tuned for the next highlight to Stratford-Upon-Avon. To those whose literature grade is "F", its the birthplace of Shakespeare along with his Shakespearean history.
eugene from manchester, out!
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