3rd November 2010 - UEFA Champions League
Chelsea 4 vs 1 Spartak Moscow
With word getting out of my attempt to do the 92 I was starting to get offers from supporters I knew of other clubs to go along to games with them. West Ham was the first, next was Chelsea.
Like most workplaces you get your selection of football fans. Where I work all of the top clubs - with the exception of Arsenal - are represented.
You have your Manchester United fans, a Liverpool fan, Tottenham Fan and even a Manchester City fan at one point, and we also had a couple of Chelsea fans. One of which - Steve - was at the time a season ticket holder and would go home and away, even in Europe, to see his side.
So when Steve got wind of my attempt to do the 92 he asked if i'd done Stamford Bridge yet, and when I said no he asked if I fancied joining him for a Champions League group phase tie against Spartak Moscow.
With the tickets being relatively cheap it was a great opportunity to tick off another Premier League ground and also, being the Champions League, see some decent football.
So off we went straight from work on the train to south-west London and we got there early enough to have a drink in one of the bars near the ground.
Steve's a born and bred Chelsea fan - not one of those plastic fans who happened to join the regime around the same time a certain Russian billionaire decided he needed a new toy - so he was telling me all the funny stories he's heard from the stands of people who couldn't seem to remember a thing prior to 2004.
When we got to the ground I remember thinking the concourse was huge but we didn't hang around as we got to our seats in the West Stand off to the left, near the Matthew Harding stand.
When I was growing up watching Premier League football I always remember Stamford Bridge as being a bit of a building site as they made improvements to the ground. The stand we were in was the most recently built of the stands and the stadium as a whole was pretty impressive.
With Chelsea's record in the Champions League I expected this match against the Russian's to be a pretty straight forward affair - all I wanted was some goals, and that's exactly what I got...eventually.
After a uneventful and, quite frankly, boring first half that even Steve described himself as dull, the second half sparked into life when Nicolas Anelka scored four minutes into the second half.
Dider Drogba then scored from the penalty spot to all but secure Chelsea's passage into the knockout phases before Branislav Ivanovic made it three.
Nikita Bazenhov scored a consolation for Spartak late on to make it 3-1, a scoreline that was starting to become all too familiar.
In four out of the six grounds I had visited as part of my ground hopping, 3-1 was the final score - Leyton Orient 1 vs 3 Charlton, Barnet 1 vs 3 Southend, Ipswich Town 3 vs 1 Northampton, West Ham 3 vs 1 Stoke - and I was starting to think this would be yet another 3-1 to add to the collection.
But as we were edging our way up the stairs towards the exits, Steve stopped to say "lets see this last attack" which was promptly followed by Ivanovic scoring his second and Chelsea's fourth to make it the highest scoring ground hop thus far and spoil the streak of 3-1's.
All in all everyone was happy. Steve was happy as his side were safely through into the next round. I was happy because I'd seen plenty of goals and you've got to love that Champions League theme tune, and I'd ticked off another Premier League ground as I tried playing catch up with Rich.
Seeing as the evening had gone so well for all involved it was almost predictable that the journey home wouldn't be quite so straight forward with trains being delayed or cancelled, resulting in a late return but you can't have it all your own way.

No comments:
Post a Comment