Les grenats

I admit that for me the word 'granata' meant only Torino. But residing at this crossroad is bringing me to unexplored stadiums, cities and fans. The latest one is the Stade St Symphorien home of les grenats of FC Metz. Of course we chose the best fixture possible as they were playing Gerard Houllier's Olympique Lyonnais. Any further comment on the opponents would be superfluous. So here we were in a very welcoming stadium, in the grenats' ultras favourite sector supporting the team currently anchored in last position of Ligue 1 playing the first, and undoubtedly best team of the league.

Planning is of course part of the fun...first consulting a map to see which team in which league would be playing the best fixture on the day chosen, getting to know where to get tickets from, making sure we will be able to find the place etc etc. Then comes the company of a couple of equally sick football lovers which is essential. Of course there will be many other trips to come and by time I will perhaps get better.

Metz have been quite resilient in the French top league along the years. Their best era was the mid-nineties when they won the League Cup and finished second in Ligue 1 behind RC Lens a year later. For the record they have won the French cup and another league cup all between 1984 and 1988. Their participation in European competitions has also been rather constant, albeit always anonymous.

Anyway, if you really want to know the final result was 0-4. But against the likes of Carew, Juninho, Wiltord, Tiago and Malouda we could not really hope for anything much different. But there is always an element of sympathy towards the underdog. We will have to see what the grenats will be up to in 6 months time...

And to look for an interesting Bundesliga fixture we go...