Latest football trip: Frankfurt

Here we were again...the usual three, with a random addition, all set for another football day. This time east, longer, colder, more stressful.

First things first. My friends pick me up. It's my role to plan the journey. First mishap. No GPS. Fine. Coming from an island where your longest drive if you're unlucky to find traffic cannot take more than an hour, we panic. The driver (whose notion of reality is at times rather blurred, to say the least) suggests driving ahead and following signs (where any) - actually we expected to find FRANKFURT on the first sign we find round the corner. I suggest buying a map (can't we get back to basics?). The wisest opinion comes (surprise surprise) from the only woman in the car. Let's borrow another GPS.

Fine, so here we go. Three and a half hours of snow, rain and Eldoradio. The awe of the stadium can be felt as soon as you get a glimpse from the motorway. Newly built for next year's World Cup, the Commerzbank Arena is beautiful both from the outside and the inside. The bar a bit less...a coffee can cost you up to 10 euros thanks to their 'clever' system of paying for your ritual snack.

The match (oh, by the way our aim was to watch a Bundesliga match) is between Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The previously rather glorious home club which recently had its reputation tarnished with a corruption scandal as a result of which it had been relegated to the 3rd division is currently trying to get back to the glory days and climb up to the levels that matter. Trapattoni's side, on the other hand, is fighting off the dangerous 'draw syndrome' (Inter fans would know very well how chronic this can prove to be!! - couldn't resist). They drew their last 8 out of 11 matches, and they are currently anchored in mid-table, 18 points after leaders Bayern.

The outcome? A draw of course. 1-1. At least we enjoyed the opening goal by the home team. It's so cool to have 44000 Germans shouting 'Eintracht ein, Stuttgart NULL' with their soft spoken tendency which only their very melodious language allows. One tiny detail: for two hours it felt as if only my torso was still alive. The cold was unbearable unless you were a...real fan.

The stadium facilities are state of the art...light years away from the concrete old structures you find in Italy. There are still works going on of course, especially on the outside. The match as a means of entertainment is much more attractive to the fans. To the encounter itself: pretty good. You can recognise a Trapattoni side as easy as ABC. Very pragmatic, everyone strictly keeping his position and with an inevitable gap between a well packed midfield and the two strikers. Up there, Tomasson is still as ineffective as he was at Milan, while Ljuboja is a very interesting player, very fast and dynamic. The opponents on the contrary were adventurous, constantly creating space, especially on the flanks, and fast in their creative part.

Anyway. Mission accomplished. Now we've been to a Bundesliga match as well. The trip back was even more stressful. Looking back? Worthwhile. As always.