By jadoerge
This week, I’m going to take a quick break from my many observations and experiences of my semester break travels to post about something here at home in Munich that was just a blast to be part of: the Champions League final!
Despite losing 2 of these finals in the last 3 years, Bayern München was back with a vengeance. After beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals, FC Bayern München was off to the finals of the Champions League in London! As it so happened, Borussia Dortmund also won their semi-final match and this year’s final was all set to be a Bundes Liga dominated, all German game! Unfortunately, since the game was being held in Wembley Stadium in London, only a few Germans were able to go see the game live. So that left myself, along with a ton of other people here in Munich, looking for somewhere to watch this game with fellow FCB supporters. With only a week left before the game, two venues were announced for massive, live public viewings: the Theresienwiese fair grounds (where Oktoberfest is traditionally held) and inside of the Allianz Arena itself which serves as the home turf to Bayern München. Of course my first instinct was to go watch it at the arena itself, and this was only intensified when I learned that they would be giving out free tickets to watch at the arena while the other viewing would cost 7 Euros per person! So I got to the arena on the specified day as soon as possible after class to pick up the 4 tickets that anyone was able to get if they waited in line. Even though I was only 15 minutes late, there were already at least four or five thousand people lined up outside the arena to claim their seats to watch this historic final. After a bitter cold two hours in line, I finally had my tickets in hand and couldn’t wait for the day to arrive.
Yesterday…game day. The second that I stepped out the door yesterday, I was already wearing my Germany national team jersey and my Bayern München scarf to show my support for one of Europe’s greatest teams. By lunch time, 9 out of every 10 people downtown were wearing the red, white, and blue of Bayern and were already singing chants and fight songs including the chant that this post is named after! Now while Americans might sometimes get a bit rude or unsportsmanlike in our chants against other teams around Super Bowl season, one of the standard chants here in Munich for big games such as this takes the cake. So Borussia Dortmund is also known here as BVB, and the chant is as follows “La di la di la di la di, layyy! BVB! Hurensöhne!” Directly translated, that last word means sons of whores. It was especially interesting to see such a wide range of people chanting these kinds of things and the BVB fans just laughing it off because they know it’s just part of the fun and they likely do it as well in Dortmund. This was just one of the small cultural differences that exist between the worlds of sports across continents. By about 6 o’clock, most guys under 30 (and quite a few over 30) that I encountered on the street were either beginning to drink, or already quite drunk. Clearly, game time was drawing near.
So, just over an hour early, a few friends and I left our apartments to take a bus over to the stadium to cheer on, you guessed it, Bayern München. As we walked up to the giant, spaceship-looking, white dome that is the Allianz Arena, you could just make out the red LEDs beginning to warm up under the white panels that would light the arena up later that night because red is the primary color of the team. When we entered the arena, we were greeted by the familiar smells and sounds of professional sports, much like we know in the States: beer, popcorn, deafening cheering, and an announcer on the PA whose volume is up way to loud. After finding our seats, we waited anxiously as the teams were slowly trotted out onto the field for the Champions League anthem and some kind of Medieval battle between two small groups of knights dressed up in the colors of their respective teams. Confusion aside, all of the pre-game antics were quite fun and paved a slightly more lighthearted way to the intense match that was to follow.
And then, finally, kickoff.
Although the stadium was only filled halfway so that everyone could see the screens, the wave of sound that filled the arena was unbelievable. As the teams battled out a relatively uneventful first half, the announcers over the PA began to get pessimistic about FCB’s chances after a rather poor showing in the first twenty minutes. The Bavarians were not about to let that slide without a proper amount of BOOOing. Halftime came and went with 75% of the stadium either leaving to pee, get more beer, or stuff themselves with one of 5 different kinds of available sausages, a pretzel, or another tasty treat from the quite affordably priced snack bars around the stadium. A few minutes into the second half and it was looking much the same, when all of a sudden Arjen Robben swept to the left side and took a pass that allowed him to fake out the goalie and put the ball just one yard in front of Mandzukic for an easy goal. An then the celebration began, from yelling the players name, doing a couple of customary chants, and the standard jumping up and down/beer throwing/hugging your neighbor, the crowd was ecstatic. Just a few minutes later, after the successful penalty shot from Borussia, the mood turned somber. With everyone on the edge of their seats fearing another overtime disaster (as was the case last year), Robben once again came out of nowhere and toed in a ball just past Dortmund’s goalie in the 89th minute, securing the victory for Bayern. After more deafening cheering, the singing of a sea of smiles, and everyone proudly hefting their scarves over their heads, it was over…Bayern had one.
Being able to be in Munich for this game and even watch it on the home field of the European Champions is certainly a memory that I will always cherish and I hope I can make it to a World Cup one of these years so that I can get a glimpse into the international sorrows and triumphs that is soccer. Thanks for reading!