Liverpool (22-10-2014)

Liverpool 0 – 3 Real Madrid (UEFA Champions League), Wednesday 22nd October 2014

Petrol (circa £60/2) = £30
Ticket = £55
Parking (£10/2) = £5
Manchester metro ticket = £5-30
Total = £95-30

There are disastrous journeys, and then there are disastrous journeys…

We’d managed to get tickets for this one by virtue of our attendance of Europa League games two seasons ago, which seems like an age away. Even then it was a struggle with Liverpool's notorious online ticketing system, and I had to try out at least 10 different block options before landing a couple in MX, the main stand, next to the Madrid supporters. Too good to be true? It certainly was.

On the Wednesday, I set off from work in Manchester to meet Mrs Groundhopper in Newhey, Rochdale, right near the M62. The tram out was smooth enough, but traffic on the motorway was heavy. Soon enough we were on our way, and crept past a couple of junctions before things sped up. Out of Manchester, and according to the sat nav (Clive!) we were still on time to make this. That is until we came up against practically stationery traffic on the M62 somewhere around Warrington/Huyton. This is normally the quick bit, but tonight nothing was moving. Things were getting pretty desperate, and it became apparent that we weren't going to make kick-off. Half an hour later and we'd moved a couple of metres. In this time, Madrid had blitzed Liverpool, who were now trailing by 3 at the break. More frustratingly, we'd missed a handy 20-min spell from Liverpool, and all the anthems pre-match. There went the first half.

So it was with good timing that we decided to come off at the next junction (Huyton) and try to navigate an alternative way to Anfield. I took over the driving at this point, and we pulled up to Goodison Park at 8.30ish. The blokes in high-viz looked confused - 'what are you here for?'. When it transpired it was the football, they said 'well you've missed the first half'. Silly time to state the obvious I think! After quickly parting with £10 for the parking, we raced across Stanley Park as quickly as we could, arriving just after the start of the second-half. Our entrance to the ground was surreal. All the turnstiles were closed, so we were directed to a fire exit door where two stewards were loitering, apparently checking people's cards and tickets. This is one situation where a hard-copy ticket would have been handy, as we both handed over the membership cards, and the numbers were promptly scribbled onto a clip-board by a helpful steward, whilst the other guy scanned the cards.

We entered the ground around 50 minutes, and finally sat down on 52 minutes. By this time it was all over as a contest. Liverpool had the occasional burst of pace from Can and Sterling, but never genuinely looked like scoring. Lallana did well with his ball-play, but looked limited when it came to the cutting-edge - goals and assists. Madrid were running in 2nd gear, but still looked miles apart from this Liverpool team. They exuded a classy intelligence on the ball, knowing exactly what to do in every tactical situation. We should have expected nothing less from a canny and astute Ancelotti, who I rate highly as a manager. Ronaldo, Kroos, Modric, Benzema were just some of the stars of the show this evening, and it was at times quite dazzling to watch the team in white on the ball. They attacked with speed and aggression, and defended with a surprising physicality. They were genuinely a class apart. For us, it felt like the game was over before it began, with fans streaming for the exits on 75 minutes. There was no real surprise in the result, but a certain feeling of anti-climax around Anfield. For us, this was amplified by having missed the key chunk of the match. The feeling of disappointment probably summed up Liverpool's season thus far.