ALLL ROUND THE FIEEELDS OF ANFIEEELD ROOAD.
I'm back from my amazing experience of visiting Anfield for the much awaited Pre Season Friendly against Atlético de Madrid!
8th August 2009: The day that enabled me to see this glorious man play for the first time live infront of me..
We took the 07.22 train up to London so we didn't have a bit of a rush looking at everything once we got to Liverpool. Once we arrived in London Victoria at 09.17 we took the Tube over to Euston after some confusion over which Underground lines were open and which were closed. It turned out the Victoria line was infact open which made it much easier for us. After arriving at Euston we wondered how many others would be in Liverpool shirts and looking around there wasn't many to begin with, with about 15-20 minutes until the train left. Then just turning around, a ton appeared out of nowhere! Soon the place was filled and once the train arrived we all just pounded along to the platform to our City of Liverpool train. We got into Liverpool at 12.15.
By this time I was pretty much freaking out that we were IN Liverpool and we'd be at Anfield very shortly. Took a photo of the Empire Theatre and then made our way to Queen Square to take the bus over to Anfield. Well then I freaked out majorly as we got to Anfield and did not realise it was just on the side of the road, hahaha. We took photos of the Kop and of me next to the Shankly statue then made our way along to road to look at the stalls - buying a big Fernando flag as we did - and then back up to Anfield where there was an announcement that the Atlético team coach was about to arrive! That was exciting though we were so far back we couldn't really see anything apart from the top of the coach.
Going up the stairs through the exit into the Main Stand caused me to freak out EVEN MORE and I just kept saying "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod" because we were pretty close and had really good seats literally above/behind the exit so had no restricted views & were then able to get a bit closer to take photos of some of the players already stood on the pitch including Riera, Johnson, Dossena & Spearing! Took more photos then returned to our seats, had a read of the Matchday Programme then texted my cousin Joseph who was sat on the Kop! Lucky bugger, haha.
As the commentator man called out the team selection we all booed when Forlan's name was announced :D That was fun because from then on we booed him every time he touched the ball, which you probably gathered if you saw it on TV/Live Stream! Stevie, Fernando, Glen & a few others got the loudest cheers when their names were announced. I waved my Torres flag during YNWA and waved it again when he got subbed off, in the hope of getting onto the TV. I didn't.
The time when Fernando hit the post and it rebounded off was proper loud right near us! He had so many chances it was like fate was not on his side yesterday. :( However, the link ups between Gernando was brilliant! The Away Atleti fans were totally in the minority, definitely under 100 there I'm sure. They did make themselves heard though, quite a lot with their random chants and bouncing! They were fun, made me smile. :) We were kind of subdued after conceding the 2 goals but livened up with the Torres Bounce, the Gerrard chant, Fields of Anfield Road, The Reds go Marching In & then the "The referee's a wanker!" chant which appeared out of nowhere after we were denied the 2nd penalty after Lucas went down. Speaking about Lucas, his goal made the place explode and I was really impressed with him. I think it could have well earned him a few more fans and earned him the credit he does deserve at times.
Not much else to say really..apart from shirtless Stevie at the end was a treat. Yummy! ;)
Around the memorial was hectic afterwards, we had a little look at it and then got stuck in the crowd with some Atléti fans behind us, which was nice because this Spanish guy was nice looking and he actually touched my shoulder! Haha.
We then left and went to find a bus to get back near Queen Square/Lime Street Station so we could get the 17.48 train back to London. This didn't happen. It turned out the bus at the stop down the hill from Anfield wasn't going to Queen Square so we couldn't board it and there was no #17 bus to take us back. We ended up flagging down a taxi but missed our train by about 1-2 minutes. We left and went to sit by the fountain near the Empire for an hour before the next train which was fine except the train kept slowing down & stopping for no reason so we were 45 minutes late into London, instead of getting back into Euston at 21.05 we got there at 21.50!
So again we missed the later 22.03 train after ending up legging it from Euston through the station down the escalators and through to the Underground platform. By this time I was so tired and stressed and worried we wouldn't find a way home I just cried. I was so knackered emotion just got the better of me. :( We did manage to get the 22.18 train all the way to Ashford International and got a taxi home from there. (People following me on Twitter would know this bit as I had a bit of a rage about it).
PHOTO TIME!
