Athens is to blame

O N E

(23_05_2007)

They welcome you at the airport and there's blue banners in the streets. Like Istanbul was in May 2005 and Paris last year in the same month: this is UEFA Champions League City for a week. Athens is a city that I'm not very fond of. It's a permanent attack on your lungs, there's too many cars and I got ripped here once and that's something one can never forget or forgive. I trusted a man who insulted me by saying "You people from the West never got time." To prove that wrong I followed him to have a drink. The story ends with them taking their time to empty my wallet. It was 4 pm, broad daylight. It can happen everywhere but to me it happened in Athens.

Did the goddess take it's name from the city or was it the other way round? What came first deity or city? I cannot get my facts straight. That bothers me. And I blame Athens.

It's the eldest still inhabited city in Europe. People have been living here for at least 3000 years. In the 4th and 5th centuries BC there where almost 300.000 inhabitants in the area. In terms of population of the metropolitan area it's the number 14 in Europe. 3.799.134 people, last year... So it should be my kind of town. But it's not, no way. There is no chemistry. Athens is ugly, it's chaos but of the boring kind, there's no colour, I do not like the light, for me the vibes are negative, it never seems to inspire me and when it rains it smells like decomposing flowers. In a few minutes I reach the situation where I suspect people not to smile at me on purpose.

So who is going to blow the expensive Calatrava-roof off the stadium tonight? The well dressed Men & Women from Milan or the working class Anfield Boys & Girls? Will it be opera or The Beatles? The Cavern Club or the Scala? Being a Stones-guy myself, I don't have to choose. I want to see and say "excellent football" but I'm quite sure that I will not get any. But it's the final so circumstances are always special. And you know what? If it's a stinker, I've always got Athens to blame.

T W O

pippo, the clown that does not smile

(05_pm)

"Who needs Zeus when you've got Fowler?" was written on, without a doubt, the best banner I saw tonight. But Milan won Paolo Maldini's fifth Champions Cup. Now he is the eldest (39 in June) ever to captain a team in a European final. What a crap match it was. It proved that Liverpool needs more than one Gerrard to win these matches: one behind the ball and another in front of it, one to set it up an another to score. The match made clear that AC Milan is the smartest and the high quality team that deserves to win the 006_007 UEFA Champions League. Because coach Ancelotti is correct when he says: "I'm happy we've got a team with two faces. If they keep us from playing good football, we try it the other way." That's your total football in 2007.

wet feet guaranteed

Can't wait to leave Athens. I'm sure it will rain all day, tomorrow. Streets will get drowned and everybody will wear the wrong shoes. I got drunk in Fandango on Michalakopoulou. Nice bar, good music. It made me feel like going home. I miss my Highland Park (18 Years Old). And I blame Athens.

Deptford & Isle of Dogs_London, 2007