My European Trip - Part 2
After the Burger King meal in Victoria train station, it was time to get to Wembley stadium, on the other side of London. The tube system in this city is not the simplest to comprehend, and there are no easy-to-understand illustrations on the station walls themselves to help you figure it out. I'm guessing for some it's a trial-and-error thing. I just managed to ask one of the guys working there and he told me what station to get off at, so I could take the correct tube to Wembley park from there.
And man, was it packed with people! London, on a normal day, is a highly populated city, but when every Tottenham fan that's already living there, and every Juventus fan who is visiting, are all trying to reach the same location at the same time, there's hardly any space to breath, never mind sit on the train. You feel lucky just to get in.
So eventually, we get to Wembley park. I manage to find my seat and wait for the (hopefully) good times roll.
If you're wondering where, in relation to the field, I was sitting, the following picture makes it very clear.
So the game begins. It's clear Son Heung-Min, Tottenham's Korean winger, is the main threat. Tactically, it was up to veteran defender, Andrea Barzagli, to stop him, but he simply wasn't able to contain him. Son's mazy runs down the flank left Barzagli guessing time and time again, leaving Gianluigi Buffon with the task of parrying any shot Barzagli wasn't able to stop. It got so bad that eventually, Son scored. 1:0 Tottenham. At this point, we would need two goals to get past them, but with a clear cut penalty on Douglas Costa not given, no optimism seemed warranted.
And then, Dybala passed to Lichsteiner down wing, who crossed to the center. The ball somehow got to Gonzalo Higuain, who tucked it in from an awkward angle, and it's 1:1. A breath of life. Juventus can still do this, but needed one more goal. If the game ends at 1:1, Tottenham go through and I leave the stadium highly disappointed.
Minutes later, Higuain gets the ball in the middle of the field, shruggs a player off him and and passes a beautiful through ball to Paulo Dybala, who runs towards goal and slots it to the keeper's top left corner. It's 2:1 Juventus! Needless to say, I was happy.
There was a drunk British guy, Tottenham fan, sitting next to us. When he saw how happy I was at Juve's goals, and his team's impending elimination on his mind, his exact words were: "If you win, I'm gonna foockin'-kill-yaaaa!"
It didn't matter. We won. Juventus are in the quarter finals of the UEFA champions league. With delight in our hearts and fatigue in our bodies, in was time to get out of the stadium and go back to the hotel. Easier said than done.
We had to descend countless flights of stairs just to get to the base of the stadium. Seriously. It seemed like the stairs would never end.
Then, we had to get back to the train station. It wasn't very far it terms of distance, but with the amount of people all exiting the stadium at once, it meant long waiting periods and very slow walking. Case in Point.
Then, it was a matter of buying the return ticket to the hotel. With an enormous amount of people all hustling towards the machines, it proved exhausting, but I grunted through it, got on the damn train and got back. An ultimately successful day over, it was time to get some sleep. Tomorrow we're off to Italy!
Stay Tuned for part 3.