Arriving in good time for our Friday night Stansted departure we were greeted with the news that
our short flight to Cologne was delayed over an hour, so that gave us time to plan a little more for
the weekend to come and flick through the latest edition of Football Weekends in the departure
lounge bar. Paying extra for seats at the front was a worthwhile pain that enabled us to whizz
through security, as the queues built up behind, and into a waiting taxi to whisk us off to our TRYP by
Windham hotel a stone’s throw from the central station. There are good train links between the
airport and the city, however, we incorrectly assumed between the two of us the 20-minute taxi
wouldn’t be too costly but at €45 it was a bit steep!
Checked in with just a little time left to explore the city centre before final orders. A brisk two-
minute walk had us standing in awe below the impressive gothic cathedral shimmering in the night
sky before we batted on to the very traditional and lively Bierhaus en d’r Salgass for a few of their
20cl Päffgen Kölsch beers.
The first game of our double header was up in Borussia Monchengladbach (vs TSG Hoffenheim), so
after a quick wander through the cathedral Christmas market we jumped on a direct train, taking
little over 50 minutes. Monchengladbach is a small city with not too much going on from what we
could find but thankfully having done some research we had a delicious lunch washed down with
even more delicious beer in the cosy St Vith. If you find yourself attending a game here and need
some pre-game nourishment, I would highly recommend this place!
Kick off was at 3.30pm in their stadium some 6km from the city centre, in keeping with German
efficiency we assumed 1.5 hours was suffice time to wander back to the central station and take one
of the free game day shuttle buses to Borussia Park… we eventually found the shuttle line around
the back of the station and queued for maybe 20minutes before an incredibly slow ride to the
stadium in heavy traffic. Unfortunately, we arrived only 15 minutes before kick off so were unable to
enjoy what was now the dying down tailgate party around the ground. There were a couple of large
screens and park benches to congregate and enjoy a beer or two before entering the ground. We
rushed past the very busy ultra entrance behind the goal but thankfully breezed through our east
stand entrance and were pitch side with a beer in hand still with 5 minutes to kick off. From the front
of the second tier you have a fantastic view of the pitch and ultras down below. Seats, costing €30 a
ticket, were selected to have a good view of the ultra section.
The ultras down to our left kept going all game, as is very common in German football, at times it
was hard to focus on the match with so much going on behind the goal. Some four podiums pitch
side atop stood a handful of ultras leading the stand in song and choreographed routines for the
entirety of the match. As things heated up one drummer removed his top in the sub-zero
temperatures… he soon thought better of it and the singlet was soon back on!
The game was a lively affair, and it was a great surprise how Hoffenheim had not taken an early lead
and capitalised further. They were quite astute at rolling the ball across the goal as various players
took their turn in being inches away from sliding or toe poking it into the goal, Maxi Beier coming
closest!
The second half got off to a lively start and not long later a clumsy challenge by Hoffenheim gifted
Gladbach a penalty, Plea rolled the ball into the right-hand corner sending the ultras behind the goal
into raptures! The lead was however short lived, 2 minutes later a delightful cross to the back post
put it on a plate for Weghorst to nod into the goal despite the best efforts of the keeper who
managed to get fingertips to the almost point-blank header. It was now the turn of the small band of travelling fans to be sent into raptures. They may not have been big in number, but they were
certainly big in energy, bouncing and singing most of the game with some interesting extended sit-
down choreography before leaping up again. All quite entertaining to watch.
Against the run of play, spreading the ball wide Gladbach made some space to roll the ball across the
face of the goal putting it on a plate for Ngoumou to roll it in and claim all three points for the home
team!
Given the issues getting there we made a swift exit to the shuttle bus queue and were pleasantly
surprised to wait less than 15 minutes, beer in hand, before we were (slowly) whisked off back to
the station. Whilst in the queue our accents were overheard, and we were soon making friends with
the Gladbach fans who were very pleased that we had made the effort to join them for a game. A
pitstop at the Gladbach bar (Humboldt Schänke) for the Euro 2024 draw and some singalongs with
the welcoming local fans before retiring to our hotel some 50km away.
Day 2 had us up in time to enjoy the Christmas markets and some of the sights that Cologne has to
offer, of course I recommend popping into the cathedral even just for two minutes to appreciate the
incredible architecture. After exploring the cobbled streets of the old town, a short walk had us
across the padlock adorned Hohenzollern Bridge to the KölnTriangle viewing platform, where for €5
you can ascend to the 29 th floor for some great city views. Should you find yourself here and a little
peckish the nearby Deutzer Brauhaus was fantastic and next door to the station for the short
journey to Leverkusen! After the 15 minute train ride a 18 minute walk would have you at the
ground. Arriving in very good time we breezed through our entrance to take in the pre-game
atmosphere, worth noting that as kick off arrived the queues to get in were huge and slow moving!
We couldn’t find too much going on outside the ground, so entered early and passed the pre-game
time wandering the stadium from inside the turnstiles.
Bay Arena is a small and compact but impressive stadium! Sitting opposite the away fans we were
treated to some noise from the travelling Dortmund fans and not to mention the 6-7 thousand in the
home end! We were surrounded by them, all paying over the odds on Viagogo (as did we) to secure
tickets to see their beloved Dortmund! Down the far end the small home end ultras were very
impressive, the whole section bounced and sang all game (albeit their standing section was quite
small in comparison to Gladbach).
Dortmund spurred on by the almost home field atmosphere took the lead in the fith minute after
some quick one touch passing had the ball at the feet of Ryerson who calmly slid it past the keeper.
By now the sun was long gone and the temperature had fallen but that hadn’t deterred Leverkusen,
they pushed on and deservedly pulled level late on with a Boniface tap in down in front of us. By
now the snow had started to come down quite heavily so a swift exit on full time had us running
through the thick snow with a park vendor beer in hand in the hope of catching the first train. By the
time we made it back to Cologne there was a thick layer of snow on the ground and as the beer took
its toll, we got off the train one stop too soon but certainly enjoyed the extended walk back across
the Hohenzollern Bridge glistening in the snow! The call of the cathedral Christmas market, looking
picturesque under its white blanket, was too strong and so we called in for one final beer before
heading off to Dusseldorf airport for our last night and our Monday morning flight back to reality!
