Around Euro 2024 – Day Seven – Gelsenkirchen

Day Seven – Thursday 20th June 2024    
Spain 1 Italy 0   
Gelsenkirchen Arena AufSchalke – 9pm local time    

It was nice to wake up knowing I wouldn’t have to pack my things and move on, the benefit of securing tickets for four games in the Rhine-Ruhr area over four consecutive days. Tonight’s game saw Spain face Italy in Gelsenkirchen. 

 

However, it wasn’t a morning of complete relaxation. For those of you that read the previous edition of this blog, you will be aware of my windscreen wiper issue. I decided to see what the cost of replacing the broken parts would be by visiting the Nissan dealer in Duisburg, where my son and I are staying for four nights. They took a look at the problem, told me the cost would be 800 euros and that the job could be done on Saturday morning. I bought the car in 2021 for £1271. I might as well buy another one. I explained and they understood. They did then see if a more effective temporary repair could be done, whilst I had a coffee and a waffle with strawberries, chocolate flakes and cream (there was a guy there making them for the staff – maybe it was some promo to get the showroom to buy a waffle maker). Even a stopgap repair wasn’t possible – apparently the motor that drives the wipers needed replacing. Whether or not this means the 800 euro quote would be increased was a moot point. I decided to take my chances with the weather Gods and headed back to our accommodation. 

 

As our game was not until 9pm and a relatively short drive, we did some supermarket shopping in the early afternoon. The place we are in has a kitchen with a fridge, freezer, kettle and non-functioning coffee machine, but no oven or microwave. I can’t get my head around not having at least a microwave, but anyway, I bought the ingredients for a few ham and cheese salads and yogurt with fruit. My son bought the necessary elements to make a few sandwiches. 

 

We headed to Gelsenkirchen fairly early so that we could park up and watch the England v Denmark game on my iPad. I decided to drive as the weather forecast suggested it was going to be a dry night so I wouldn’t require working wipers. We parked up in a large estate walking distance from the ground. A decent number of Italian and Spanish fans were doing the same. We found a spot and were happily settled watching England’s game in the car when we were disturbed by a female traffic warden who explained that we were parked the wrong way round (anal or what?) but regardless of that, she would have to give us a ticket as we were not residents. The thing is there were no signs indicating that it was residents only parking, which is an automatic thing in the UK. I should have said – just give me the ticket, I’m not budging (knowing they’d have trouble getting me to pay it, post-Brexit), but she might have taken it personally and ordered a tow truck. So I just moved.

We went 200 metres and turned into a dead end street and continued watching the football, and at half time, I went scouting and found a spot to park next to a residential block that did not seem to be public highway. We moved there and watched the rest of the match. So, let’s get this over and done with. England went 1-0 up – great. England then failed to prevent Denmark from scoring by suddenly losing their ability to keep the ball. It was rank, but you know what? England will likely win their group and once the knockout rounds begin, it’s all about survival. Additionally, if you are going to play poorly in these tournaments it’s a good idea to do it in the group stage, as long as you get out of them. All the same, my enjoyment of tournament football does not rely on England doing well, so I couldn’t get too worked up about it.

 

We walked through a woodland path to get to the stadium, which didn’t look particularly impressive from the outside, although it did once host a Champions League final back in 2004, unusual given they only had a 50,000 capacity. Our seats were near the front of the upper tier at the side of the pitch, facing down on the goal that Italy were (or weren’t very much as was the case) attacking in the first half. 

 

The game certainly suggested that Spain were a far better team than the current Italy, such was the lack of the latter’s ambition. The holders looked like a decent side in the group stages of Euro2020, which of course, they went on to win. The Spanish took up from where they left off against Croatia and should have won by more. I wouldn’t fancy England’s chances too much against them. One thing I really liked about the stadium was the locating of a hanging screen broadcasting to all four sides above the middle of the pitch. With tech being what it is, I wonder if this might be a solution to places like Old Trafford where there is no screen of any description. Post game, we did our usual glass collection for the deposits, although the people here seemed more clued up so there were less left behind and the collecting them is quite competitive as well. It all helps fund the trip. 

We found our way back to the car and headed to our accommodation in Duisberg for our second night there. The forecast suggested no rain after the game, but we got caught in some about 20 minutes from the end of our journey. I’d borrowed a squeegee from the shower where we were staying, which was far more useful than a towel as I used one hand out the window to give me vision and the other on the steering wheel. We made it ok, although I did spot the beginnings of a windscreen crack. You couldn’t make it up. I had my mechanic give the car a good check before heading to Germany, but some things you can’t predict. 

 

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If you like this kind of thing, you can always revisit my Qatar 2022 blog entries - just search for 'Qatar 2022' in the labels