As strange at it may seem, today we didn't journey to another city. We didn't even left the neighborhood. Instead, we spent 3 times as much to go and watch a football game between Iraklis Saloniki VS PAO Athens. "We" meaning Mitsos, my brother Alexis and yours truly.
It is known that I am a supporter of Olympiakos Piräus, objectively speaking the BEST team in Greece and soon in Europe. However, I also support Iraklis. This team usually plays good football and several great players appear to the roster. Occasionaly, when Olympiakos comes here to play against Iraklis, I try to go to the stadium and watch some, ahem, quality football.
However, since Mitsos is a full blue blooded supporter of Iraklis, he convinced me to watch his team against Veroia and now against PAO. Panathinaikos and Olympiakos are arch rivals since the dawn of time, so there was aone more reason why I should root for Iraklis. So, I took my brother along and went to the Kaytatzogleio Stadium.
Lots of people there and it is natural: PAO, for some reason, is considered a great and popular team. We found Mitsos near the ticket booth. We expected the ticket to cost about 20€, since we wanted to sit in near the vip seats, where you can watch the game more pleasantly and have a shelter in case of rain; it was a cold and moisty day. We got even more colder when we've learned that tickets cost 30€ each! With heavy heart we paid and Mitsos lost a great bit of his enthusiasm...
Once inside, the overall atmosfaire was preety good.
Lots of people, families, and many women were there. Players of both teams doing their training... There was nothing to worry about. We were wrong...
As soon as the game started, both teams seemed stuck in the middlefield. It was as there were no strikers on the team formations...BO-RING! People started to get uneasy when they noticed that the assistant refferi was stoping the offensives (?) of Iraklis and the air was reeking of tension. When Panathinaikos scored a lucky goal in the 27th minute, there was no stoping for the fans of Iraklis...
The half time was uninteresting as the rest of the game, but then came a note of joy: A father left his son go in the field and play some passing game with the Panathinaikos substitute players! Although I dislike a father who teaches his son to grow up and become a supporter of Panathinaikos, it was a nice image and even Mitsos had a faint hint of a smirk.
In the second half, Iraklis tried to even the score and it could have been so, if the refferi didn't cancel the goal that was scored in 72'! That was it! The fans went on a rampage and many guys begun speaking French. The announcer, pleading for the fans to support their team and ignore the PAO fans, only made things worse...
Iraklis tried in vain to score another goal, but the players simply couldn't. Panathinaikos won, with a lucky goal and we left the stadium dissapointed, cold and a lot poorer. But what matters is that I watched a game with my brother and my friend and, hey, it's not like we are doing this every day, right?
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