Could be the greatest day ever

First Glimpse Of Eindhoven On the train
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As the train arrived into the City there were banners everywhere promoting the Uefa Cup final, there was even a giant stand promoting the event in the baggage hall at Schipol.  The we saw the PSV Stadium, it looked massive, quite a bit bigger than the Riverside and almost as big as the Amsterdam Arena.  To be honest it looked quite magnificent in the sun, as did the rest of the city before we pulled into the train station.

When we got off the train, we realised how many BORO fans there were, all the way from the trains to the first bars.  There were the odd Sevilla fans, but nothing compared to the amount of BORO fans swarming throughout the city.  The market sellers were already out at midday unloading fake t-shirts and scarfs for the fans to buy.  We went to the first  section of bars straight after the train station, which i though must of been boro's offical square with the amount of boro fans that were there, but looking at the map, we realised we were nowhere near.  There was an english guy selling some nice comerative t-shirts for BORO's entire uefa cup journey that were a snip at 10 euros each compared to other t-shirts, especially the official uefa ones.  A quick pint and we moved on to find other areas of the city.

without a doubt the best atmosphere i have ever experienced!

No Bikes in Eidhoven then
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Our next stop was outside Cafe Thomas, where BBC radio cleveland had hired a bar for the day, there were even more BORO fans, but still we were not in the offical BORO square.  The chants were going and the lager flow was literally non-stop.  Next to the giant cathedral, some BORO fans had managed to convince a construction worker to get on his lift and put a BORO flag right at the top of the cathedral. As we were getting a beer in Cafe Thomas, one fan asked for cider, but the bar man had no idea, the fan really did try to spell it out to hi at no avail, the rest of us at the bar started laughing that the barman who spoke pretty good english had never herd of the tipple.  The barman though, thought we were laughing at the fan, and started laughing with us pointing at the fan saying "cider, yeah cider".  If only the barman knew the joke was on him.  The unfortunate fan then recieved a pint of Grolsch with a head that needed a flake.

Boro Fans heading towards Town
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After speaking to some friends, we moved onto what was BORO square.  One the way we were lucky enough to be interviewed by five live.  It obviosly wasnt live, and i dont know if our interview ever got played, but still good.  The guy asked us about boro, expereinces, score predictions and the ticket allocation farce.  Then BORO square, the place was enourmous and the atmosphere amazing.  Constant beer flowing, food vans all over, fans chanting, boro songs being played over the tannoy and the Steaua Bucharest game being replayed every half hour.  We decided to get some food from the many vans, pizza being choice of the day, and 2 meaty slices filled me up for the day at a decent 7 euros.  Why there wasnt a take-away van driven over from Middlesbrough selling Parmos at 20 euros each i have no idea, they would have made an absolute killing with 20,000 BORO fans gagging for that local delicacy.

The Train Station
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We walked around the city some more seeing some local bars and wandered into Sevilla's fan square.  There were no spanish fans anywhere else in the city, but they were certanly crammed into the market square in loud voice.  As we walked through they were all glad to see us, shaking our hands and taking photos.  Throughout the day i didn't see any trouble, both sets of fans behaved very well and would of been stupid to do otherwise with the amount of police and riot (swat like) police about.  As Sevilla played their previous goals on the big screen, the fans chanted, what at the time was quite a catchy spanish tune, "Sevilla, Sevilla, la la la, Sevilla", how annoying this would become in the last 10 minutes of the match.

The first set of bars are overrun
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Later in the day we returned to the boro square to meet up with some friends and some last minute drinking.  We managed to meet ex-premiership referee and life-long BORO fan Jeff Winter.  The guy was absolutly bladdered, but was more than happy to give us a photo.  We had to pause the photo though as Jeff shouted "Hold up lads, bit of skirt".  He then pointed to a female BORO fan in a short skirt, who at a push was 16, before returning from his fantasy and said "Carry on".  Before we left him, i asked how he though we would get on with a continetal German Referee, his profesional opinion "I dont give a f**k, as long as we win".  Although true at the time, he later would definately care as the Ref would bottle the only important decision in the game.

Eindhoven Cathedral
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Finally as the evening started to set in we made our way to the stadium via the station to swap cameras.  The Stadium really did look magnificent as we walked towards it.  There were reports of tickets changing hands for as much as £700, and i saw some guy just infront of me agree a price of 300 euros about an hour before kick off.  On our way in everybody, and i mean everybody had a full body search.  Some guys infront of us got turned away, it must of only of been drink of some sort because they were only turned away, not arrested.

Boro Fans by the Cathedral
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Once inside i was devestated to find out alcohol was not being served.  Instead they were pouring coke from 2 litre bottles and charging 4 euros per half litre cup, and uefa say the game is all about the fans...

I must admit once inside the stadium was very impressive and as it filled up, all of the uefa goals for both sides were shown on the four big screens around the stadium.  Both sets of fans were in fine voice and by the time kick-off arrived it was without a doubt the best atmosphere i have ever experienced!  The fans were just so loud, jumping about with the massive banners as the teams ran out.

Eindhoven Cathedral with BORO flag ontop
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The match itself was a disaster from BORO's point of view.  The first half produced very few clear cut chances, but Riggot lost his man for 1 second. A pin point cross matched with Fabiano leaping like a salmon, angling in a pin point header in off the post left poor Mark Schwarzer no chance.  Half time 1-0 Sevilla.

The 2nd Half with Maccarone on was much better from the Teessiders' view and for 20 mins we were all over them, just struggling to create that clear cut chance.  In the stand we all felt we would get the equalizer sooner or later.  Our chance came around 75mins as Viduka was clear on goal with only the keeper to beat.  At 7 yards out you would of put your mortgage on the big aussie putting it away.  Our entire stand was nearly in raptures, but he hit it straight at the keepers legs.  Nightmare.  Only in our next attack, Viduka was in again but as the ball came to him recieved some sort of flying elbow into his back from thier captain Navarro.  We went mental, then time stood still while we waited for the ref to point to the spot.  When he didnt there were grown men around me having multiple heart attacks, the ref just bottled it, pure and simple!

Cafe Thomas in Eindhoven, occupied by BBC Radio Cleveland
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They went down the other end of the pitch and scored. 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go, was going to be tough, as we pushed forward, with only 3 at the back we were caught short as the added a third and a fourth.  It was hard to take, hearing that daft Sevilla chant four times, and one BORO fan was distraught as he shouted "You can stick your paella up your arse".

The majority of BORO fans waited to clap our players effort, even though some performances were dissapointing.  We then waited to see Sevilla lift the trophy and fair play to them, they were the better team and deserved to win, i just cant stop thinking about the if's and buts regarding Viduka and the Ref.  It could of been 1-1, instead it will go down in History as 4-0 thats the hardest thing to take.

BORO's road to the final in poetry
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With BORO fans either in tears or bordering on them we made our way to the station to collect our stuff and head back to Amsterdam, as did nearly every other fan.