UEFA Super Cup 2023

My blog consists mainly of concert posts, but I've only written a sports post once and that had to do with the London 2012 Olympic Games. I do attend sports events every once in a while, though, most notably Basketball European and World Championships (with a Final Four thrown in the mix) and a Euro 2008 match in Salzburg. But the football match I attended in August was definitely an important one, worth writing a blog post about: The 2023 UEFA Super Cup final. This is a match between the Champions League winner and the Europa League winner. Every year I go into a lot of trouble in order to find a TV channel or a web site to see it. This year, as I was searching for the channel that would show it, I realized that I didn't need one. It would be held here in Greece. So, I applied for a ticket, didn't get one, but when some of the successful applicants did not pick up theirs, I finally got one. I was supporting Manchester City that night, because even though I am an Arsenal fan, I usually support the English teams (apart from Tot****am) on international games. I had actually been to the Manchester City store on my last visit to Manchester back in 2016 when I went to see The Stone Roses at Manchester City's stadium! And since I had already been to matches where Arsenal and Manchester United had played, City was one team that I had never seen "live".

As with every major international sports tournament, this was a celebration and a chance to meet people from other countries in one's city. My first stop on that day was Thissio where a big replica of the cup was on display.

My next stop was Piraeus, close to Karaiskaki Stadium where the final was taking place in order to visit the Fan Festival. This was an area where fans from both teams and local people as well could get together, eat and drink, play 5-a-side football and listen to music.

 

 

On top of that, across the street from the Fan Festival, the Champions League, Europa League and Super Cup trophies were on display (along with Manchester City's domestic trophies).

Then it was on to the stadium where we watched a football match with both teams scoring one goal each. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it ended in a 1-1 draw, the winner was to be decided on penalties, but without extra time played beforehand, which means that the match never had the chance to go into "boring" status. I recorded the penalty shoot-out on video.

 

One thing that hasn't changed since the 90's is that Gala's "Freed From Desire" is played in all major sporting events

 

 

 

After the match and the award ceremony we set off on our way home where the local organizers had told us the metro would be running extra services to all destinations. However, in typical Greek fashion, mine stopped halfway through and we found ourselves stranded somewhere in Athens in the early hours of the morning until we were saved by a night bus.