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AIK Stockholm vs. Djurgardens IF
Stockholm, Sweden
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Rivals, The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs, is one of the best derby books available.
Read the review |
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| Paris St. Germain - Olympique Marseille (2-1) |
| League, 07 November 2004 |
| Stadium : Parc des Princes |
| Attendance : 46000 |
I got corporate tickets for this match and sat in the section "Presidentielle D ROUGE", behind the benches to the left, perfect view of the pitch. The ticket was a little plastic card with a bar code. The hot dogs were OK, not as good as the traditional Scottish half time "pie and bovril" I'm used to.
The 1st of a double header, the pre-match hype was huge, and the match delivered. Going into the match 6 wins in a row over OM, PSG welcomed back ex Captain Dehu and the controversial Fiorese.
Former PSG, Fiorese had signed for OM on the last day of the transfer market, parting with some shots against PSG, citing it as "like a prison" amongst other slagging remarks. There were a few big banners with slogans against him, one particular which said "if PSG is like a prison, bring the soap back", commenting on the cheek of a highly paid player.
PSG had lots of other banners, a couple dedicated to a fan who was recently killed, and one massive one with a naked bird on it which read "UNE FILLE POUR LA NUIT, PSG POUR LA VIE" (a girl for a night, PSG for life).
We saw on CNN later, the OM team bus was trashed on route to the stadium earlier, and the surrounding area closed. Although by the time we got there was no trouble at all, in fact the fans were really quiet outside the ground, this could have been something to do with the heavily tooled up Riot Police lining the streets and backed up by huge anti- riot trucks. 1500 extra Police were drafted in.
Inside the ground both sets of fans were making alot of noise, PSG's 45000 came out on tops against OM's 1000, who were caged in a section. I was sitting quite close to them, and they were totally up for it until the 2nd went in and they were finished off.
PSG fans gave Fiorese, a rain of missiles at corner kicks, which were deflected by a comical row of riot Police, and a constant barrage of abuse and whistles. Smoke from red flares clouded the pitch.
On the whole, quality of play was sacrificed for passion, PSG man sent off, a few nice plays, but 3 really top drawer goals, Pauletta curled a screamer round Barthez, OM equalising early in the 2nd half with a slick move finished with a thunderbolt, another unstoppable finish to win 2-1, brilliant atmosphere in the Parc des Princes, a great match to attend.
PSG came back from 0-2 down in Marseille 3 days later, to win 2-3 in the Cup. Making it 8 in a row.
Judging by the passion of the 1000 OM fans in Paris, they must be very sore!
Report added : 19 November 2004
Report by : Niall
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