There are ways and ways to live your home. There is the routine, the one to which we are all tied to a minimum and which often seems to overwhelm us. There is the weekend, when everyone gathers within friendly walls to spend more time together. Discuss, have fun, enjoy your free time and maybe, why not, run into some healthy discussions. Then there are those special evenings. Even more than the festive air of Christmas. Even more than the children’s birthday, who with dreamy eyes are preparing to open their presents. There are evenings when the house is transformed into a sweet and warm stage, where everyday objects, everyday faces and the normal passage of time take on a profoundly different aspect. As if we were moving into a parallel world.
They are evenings where everyone feels important and everyone experiences the common space as a temple, mixing fear, hope and emotion. These are the European nights in Rome, for some time now. Moments in which the old and scruffy Olimpico dresses up and takes on those contours that still manage to distinguish it from aseptic and modern European facilities. Stadiums which, let’s face it, from a structural point of view cannot even be compared to ours, but which, not having a life lived behind them and responding to contemporary needs, do not have the ability to transmit that pinch of magic that many Italian bleachers they still advocate.
In Rome, reaching a semifinal, being one step away from the final act of the second continental competition, is not something normal. This can be understood by having a chat with the gang of fans who already begin to crowd the streets adjacent to the stadium in the early afternoon. Few want to talk about the game, the tension is so high that there are those who can’t eat and are literally devoured by anxiety. The wave of enthusiasm brought by a Rome that in the last two years has shown a miserable and often embarrassed face in the league, in the presence of a more granite and mangy face in Europe, ends up becoming a real time bomb in this heat early May afternoon. The first short sleeves made room for winter coats and jackets, hand in hand with a climate that warms up even more near the Ponte della Musica, where the team bus is intercepted by ultras and ordinary people, to be escorted to the entrances to the sound of torches, smoke bombs and choirs. From behind the tinted windows, someone can be seen filming the sea of people. Even the staff and players are obviously enraptured by the atmosphere that welcomed them. The evergreen Nick Hornby comes to mind who in his famous Fever at 90 he underlined: “The mess you made was a crucial moment and all this makes it special, because you were as decisive as the players, and if you hadn’t been there who would give a damn about football?”. And although quoting some of his phrases is by now a cloying and rhetorical exercise to say the least, I really think there is a more suitable passage to describe what is going on in the mind of every fan right now. And what would this sport be without its craziest and most loyal followers.
On Lungotevere some paper bombs are exploded to charge the environment, while most of those present begin to convey towards the entrances. More than 63,000 tickets have been sold, with German representation hovering around 2,500. There is no mention of sold out just because i supporter of Leverkusen have not run out of tickets available. While an emphasis should be placed on the capacity of the Olimpico, still partially reduced both for structural reasons and… related to the Covid emergency (sic!). When the gates open at 18, many immediately enter. And the motivation – in addition to the aforementioned anxiety – is easy to say: within an hour or so the queues that form near the South are nothing short of impressive, with stewards unprepared to handle everything and a classic situation at the potential danger, fortunately thwarted more by the fate and intelligence of the fans, than by the intervention of those who are called on a weekly basis to manage the influx and outflow of the public. A spotty aspect on which a specific article should be written, then quoting all the rubbish (also relating to bans and limitations) that are administered to us by various newspapers and Observatories following the critical issues encountered.
As the stadium fills up, classic pre-match tunes fill the loudspeakers. But today there isn’t the relaxed desire to hum and have fun, already in the pre-game the tension of those who know they are facing the first half of an obvious appointment with history is felt. And although the fear of failing today makes your legs tremble less than in the past, as previously mentioned, reaching a European semi-final is not common and triggers dreams in the mind that in ninety-six years of history have almost always seemed forbidden. There is the feeling of being faced with the whole “package” of that illogical Rome and unable to live their day beyond the ball. Because in it he finds purity, finds sentimental stimuli and manages to transpose his whole soul without having to be too attentive to his cliché or, worse still, to his existential worries.
Thus, while the two teams enter the field, the Roma people close their ranks. It almost seems to embrace itself in internal torment and explode when the opponent can be booed. Certainly not by virtue of a rivalry or who knows what hatred, but simply to make it clear that today is one of those special evenings for one’s home and that its bishops will be ready to direct the outcome, taking advantage of even the last drop of sweat available.
The two teams met quite recently. It was the 2015/2016 season and it was the Europa League group. On that occasion the Olimpico who presented himself to the supporter Teutonic was very different from tonight. We were in the midst of desertion for the barriers and it wasn’t exactly ninety exciting minutes from an environmental point of view. The Bayer fans themselves were, numerically, far fewer than tonight. This aspect tells us two things: the importance of a semi-final has an impact, but the growth of organized German fans is an incontrovertible fact. Then we can discuss the modalities, their approach to the stadium and a fame that too often is built only through ad hoc videos, spammed on social media. But that the ultras sprout in Germany has blossomed and is experiencing important seasons is undeniable. Moreover, in spite of a somewhat understated reputation, the boys of North Curve of Leverkusen are a respectable reality after all. As I already had the opportunity to say on the occasion of the match played eight years ago at the Bayarena, the Rossoneri make a good impression from the support point of view, managing to involve everyone present on several occasions during the match, showing stylistically perfect clapping, producing in a simple but successful choreography and being heard by the whole stadium on more than one occasion. Of course, we are not faced with a “bad” or rogonous fan base – as evidenced by the non-reaction to the many provocations rained down by the “rowdy” kids scattered around the Curva Nord – but certainly interesting and “enjoyable”. Of note, among the German ranks, the presence of Offenbach twins and a couple of patches against UEFA.
What, however, I always “reproach” the northern European realities, is the low participation in the football event. Which is certainly an integral part of their way of being and of their anthropological culture. As an Italian, I understand and am “kidnapped” more by a stadium that is unable to fully express its full potential, because it is as taut as a violin string and involved in every touch of the ball by the two teams. The torches that rain down on the field during the hymn, covering even the beautiful scarf with their smoke, are the trademark of a bygone era. And they are good for the heart of anyone who loves this world. Just as impactful are the smoke bombs lit in the grandstands, places where “more relaxed” fans should sit par excellence but where, at least in Rome, for some time now we have been witnessing a good participatory show. To top it all off there is a choreography organized by the company in all sectors (including in the Curva Sud, for obvious reasons) which certainly contributes to coloring the Viale dei Gladiatori layout.
The voice occasionally struggles to come out powerful in the first fraction, choked by tension, while it melts more in the second half. Partly because fear leaves room for wanting to push Mourinho’s men to victory, partly because Bove’s goal definitively breaks the delay. Flags and banners seem to want to blow on the ball, waving continuously and showing off all their excellent workmanship, which objectively has increasingly characterized the material of Romanists in recent years. Once again, the group positioned in the Curva Nord on the guest side deserves a mention. A low wall that has been oiling its gears for some time now, managing to involve those present and proving to be really important for making even historically more “settled” sectors of the stadium rumble. The fact that ultras minds are found in every sector of the Olimpico is a notable added value for the final product!
On the pitch, as mentioned, it was Roma who won 1-0. A result that certainly doesn’t shift the balance of qualification too much, but allows the Giallorossi to face the Bayarena with little moral advantage.
At the triple whistle, the classic “Grazie Roma” takes a while to start, to favor the choruses of the South which obviously spread and involve the rest of the stadium, relying on the catchphrase of “Tu lo sai la Domenica”. The joy is obviously curbed by the awareness of another ninety minutes – a week later – tough, difficult and mentally exhausting. But you live off football just to get to these appointments, to be ready and try to bring your colors as far as possible. There will be 1,750 in Germany, with many others out because they were left without a ticket and many attached to radio and television, with only one – ideal – heart beating. Disappointments and joys are part of the existence that each of us has chosen to live. And if it is normal for them to be preceded by anxieties and adrenaline, it is equally normal for them to write a little piece of history to be engraved in the minds of everyone present. Because it is the path that is handed down. To immortalize the feelings for the colors that we have decided to marry.
Text Simone Meloni