Game 43: Brescia 0-1 Napoli
The clocks went back this morning. But did it feel like I’d had an extra hour in bed? Of course not. After Friday’s very late night, I had a very late start to my day off on Saturday, crawling out of bed some time after the clock had turned from AM to PM. When I woke up at around 7am today it felt like 6am, rather than 8am. Was I working on a completely different daylight saving hour? It certainly seemed that way.
Thankfully, the lack of sleep did not stop me from travelling on time to Brescia for a lengthy work shift followed by the Rondinelle’s match against Napoli. The bad news was that the weather absolutely stunk. As I wandered around trying to locate a fully-functioning internet café from which to work, I was getting reasonably wet thanks to that stupid fine rain that soaks you through (thank you, Peter Kay!)
When finally I found somewhere, I got my head down and worked hard before jumping on a bus to the Stadio Mario Rigamonti. I’d been here a number of times in the past, and so was all too aware that it’s a ground which leaves you very much open to the elements. With only a half-roof to ‘cover’ the main stand, and the disjointed bowl effect which its randomly positioned uncovered stands offer, it is in no way a form of protection from poor weather, which can easily become an issue given the ground’s placement on the very north of town, close to what are basically the start of the Alps. As soon as a wind comes whistling through the nearby hills, the match-goers know about it.
Unfortunately, today was very much one of those days. Italy is not somewhere which is regularly blighted by high winds. Having been born right by the North Sea, I know all about the effect the wind can have, and would spend many an evening when I was younger staring out of my bedroom window when it seemed that at least one of the two 70-feet tall trees in our back garden was destined to fall through the roof at any moment! Today my fear was more that I’d see none of the game, given that the swirling wind was playing havoc and sending the rain in all different kinds of directions.
After a first half in which I was plonked in the wet seat which my ticket had designated for my use, enjoying absolutely nothing of the spectacle on the green stuff in front of me, I decided at half-time to go for a hot cup of tea before relocating to the back of the stand. It was while I was stood shivering alongside a Perspex screen protecting the executive boxes at the back that I saw Ezequiel Lavezzi snatch the only goal of the game, his white shirt being somewhere nearer brown by the time he slid across the floor after his winning strike. Brescia had been adventurous but toothless, and ultimately it was always Napoli who looked likely to win the game, even without new star man Edinson Cavani in the starting line-up.
Post-game, the rain managed to stay away long enough for me to make my way back into the centre by foot, grabbing a bite to eat in the station café before heading home to Milan, where it is slightly less disgusting weather-wise, fortunately. It may well pay to think twice before requesting a ticket for Brescia any time before March after today’s experience!
Join Forza Italian Football on Twitter and Facebook.
