Welcome to Milan
I'm sure many of us recall watching the quite brilliant James Richardson tucking into a large cake and a Cappuccino accompanied by a copy of Gazzetta Dello Sport before reeling us through the Italian football highlights of the week previous. Due to this my obsession with one particular stadium has never left me and when the prospect of a weekend city break to Milan with Inter at home cropped up, well, it'd be rude not to.......
After landing in Bergamo some few miles from Milan we arrived in Italys fashion capital feeling somewhat underwhelmed as the city had a rather bad case of ugly suburbs. All that however changed once Ali caught sight of 'Via Spiga' thus my wallet began to tremble. Milan has a beautiful cathederal in which none other than Pope Benedict made an appearance at during our stay, albeit on a big screen surrounded by men in the square sporting some rather odd looking Robin Hood style hats.
Full up on culture and Gelato we headed for the San Siro early doors as we had tickets to collect knowing how stringent the laws on Italian football had become. Do make sure you take your passport as otherwise you cannot gain entry to the stadium, one flash of that however and two tickets for the Curva Sud were in my possession.
I'm sure many of us recall watching the quite brilliant James Richardson tucking into a large cake and a Cappuccino accompanied by a copy of Gazzetta Dello Sport before reeling us through the Italian football highlights of the week previous. Due to this my obsession with one particular stadium has never left me and when the prospect of a weekend city break to Milan with Inter at home cropped up, well, it'd be rude not to.......
After landing in Bergamo some few miles from Milan we arrived in Italys fashion capital feeling somewhat underwhelmed as the city had a rather bad case of ugly suburbs. All that however changed once Ali caught sight of 'Via Spiga' thus my wallet began to tremble. Milan has a beautiful cathederal in which none other than Pope Benedict made an appearance at during our stay, albeit on a big screen surrounded by men in the square sporting some rather odd looking Robin Hood style hats.
Full up on culture and Gelato we headed for the San Siro early doors as we had tickets to collect knowing how stringent the laws on Italian football had become. Do make sure you take your passport as otherwise you cannot gain entry to the stadium, one flash of that however and two tickets for the Curva Sud were in my possession.
Inside the stadium the first impression you get is one of sheer size of the place,how somewhere can be so
atmospheric while the ghosts of the greats who have graced that pitch still come to prominence. A warning
to those who suffer from vertigo as the stands are very steep but provide some of the best views I have had
the pleasure of in my time travelling around stadia. The Ultra's in the Curva Nord quickly gathered to make an atmosphere of which the San Siro is famed, wall to wall noise and only 55,000 in the ground!
So to the action, Inter kicked off the scoring with a freak goal from ex-Pompey star Sully Muntari whilst dutch free kick master Wesley Sneijder bent in an impressive second. The special one's team seemed to be on cruise control as they stroked the ball around impressively that was until Catania unleashed livewire Guiseppe Mascara into the action who reduced the deficit from the penalty spot after some Huerelio Gomes-style antics from Julio Cesar bringing down the Catanian Striker. Three points better off Inter declared job done and everyone went home happy, a truely memorable experience at one of the best stadiums ,in my view,in the world.
The City....Milan is served by two main airports in the city, Malpensa and Linate and Bergamo a little further afield. Malpensa has an express train link as well as buses, the express will drop you at Cadorna station joining the cities metro system wheras from Bergamo and Linate it is a shuttle bus (9 euro) from Bergamo.
What to do/eat/drink...Check out Milans impressive Duomo Cathederal in the main square plus the shopping street Via Spiga, also links to the lakes by rail can be found at Stazione Garibaldi. If on a budget Milan offers 'aperativo' hours in the local bars, similar to happy hours where you can purchase food and a drink for around 10 euro's or less. Equally there are some good, well priced eateries to be found around Via Brera.
How to get to the stadium.....Take the red subway line to lotto station and from there head straight out of the station exit and continue straight on down via federici caprilli until the remarkable sight of the san siro comes into view, there are also tram links to the stadium which we found the easiest way of getting away from the stadium. The tram will take you back to Duomo square beside the cathederal.
Getting a ticket....
Tickets for both Inter and Milan are sold online which is probably the best and most reliable way of obtaining a seat via the official websites of the respective clubs. Curva Nord is where the Inter Ultra's gather and Curva Sud for Milans ultra's, tickets range from a whopping 170 euro for games against teams outside of the top four (which are a few euro's more) to a more modest 24 euro's in the second tier, it is worth noting that if you are female or under 14 you get in at a reduced price! If you do wish to purchase your tickets in Italy then it is worth purchasing them at least 24 hours from kick off. A list of ticket retailers is avaliable on the club websites.
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