AS Roma (0) 0
Atletico Madrid (0) 0
Attendance: 36,064
New Ground: 315
Grounds Abroad: 39
Entrance: 63 Euros Senior
Programme: None
Mileage from hotel: 10/1,714
Match Report
The good memory of a first trip to the Olympic Stadium in Rome was that of watching an excellent Atletico Madrid side swamp Roma in the second period with only a mixture of misfortune and wasteful finishing denying them three points in Champions League Group C.
As goalless draws go, this was not one of the Cray Valley variety. It was exciting, surprisingly open with the Roma support initially raising the hairs on the back of your neck with their club song but an hour later were voicing their derision as Atletico held the upper hand.
The transportation to the Olympic Stadium must be one of the worst in any of the major European cities, certainly the worst that I've experienced and I've done a few. The metro falls a 35 minute walk short of the ground and when the connecting bus fails to turn up on any of its four previous scheduled times while the waiting queue grew far beyond its capacity especially as it turned up full anyway.
Once we had managed to squeeze ourselves into the second bus that followed, a really uncomfortable ride ensued with the football traffic now at snail's pace. Unfortunately the time lost cost us a decent look around the outside of the stadium which was a real shame as a view of the Olympic statues looked worth a few minutes of my time.
The entrances and outside facade looked more from the 1960 Olympics than the 1990 World Cup and as is the necessary way of these times the access was stringent with identification needed twice plus a bag search and pat down.
Once in, the view from our Tribuna Tevere seats, bought for 63 Euros as a senior direct from Roma, was very good. A given official attendance of only 36,064 really surprised me, I thought there were considerably more in the stadium.
The colourful Ultras on the Curva Sud were in full voice and, although my greatest respect goes to Atletico, it would have been good to have seen the reaction to a Roma goal.
As it was, as the game progressed, the small knot of fans from Madrid, I would estimate 250-ish, were able to make themselves heard as Griezmann and company scythed holes in the Italian back line.
Ultimately it was a superb display of goalkeeping from Roma's Alisson Becker that designated that the game would remain goalless.
The momentum of the game was set early when the impressive Felipe Luis set up Koke to bring a save out of Alisson.
Antoine Griezmann's spectacular scissor kick brought derisory jeers as it sailed wide but you couldn't help but think that the Roma support was already envious of the movement and passing of their opponents.
Alisson saved from Luciano Vietto before Roma finally had an effort on goal when Gregoire Defrel narrowly shot wide after 22 minutes.
Roma’s best effort of the first period in which they started to stem the tide in the second quarter came when a free kick set up a 30 yard effort from Radja Nainggolan that was saved low to his left by Jan Oblak.
The second half was one-way traffic with all roads leading to the Roma penalty area. Alisson saved from Luis on 49; from Vietto on 56 and from my outfield man of the match, Saul Niguez on 59 minutes.
Roma fans took solace from news that Juventus were two down in Barcelona as Atletico were literally swarming all over their favourites who were now getting the bird.
Chances continued to be created and wasted by the Spaniards until time added when Niguez brought a great save out of Alisson and from the resultant corner he shot against the post when it would have been easier to score.
So the game finished in stalemate, now came the task of finding our way back to central Rome with the last Metro train due to leave at 23:30 p.m., a ridiculous time given the 20:45 kick off.
If there were only 36,000 in the ground, 20,000 of them must have arrived on Vespas. I have never seen so many bikes in one place since the Mods took to Brighton in 1964. Just to find your scooter in the bike park after the game would be an achievement in itself.
After a laboured and sardine-packed bus ride that finally got us to the Metro with less than 10 minutes to spare, we could reflect that the evening’s entertainment had been a good one.
So, what turned the memory bad. A couple of days later in, of all places, the Vatican City we were victims of a bag snatch that not only robbed us of £150 and credit cards but also my camera with the best part of 500 pictures of the trip including all the pictures of the football. A bitter end that clouds Rome’s obvious fascinations.
No comments:
Post a Comment