In response to Helen’s post that mentioned Munich’s recent win in the Champions League Finals, I just want to paint a quick picture of the celebration scene.
I watched the game in apartment with about 15 people, on ZDF, and although the broadcast was in German, the excitement of scoring a goal is definitely universal. It was a nail biter, and the room was tense as we sat eating freshly made crepes with Nutella and drinking beer for the first half of the game as the ball bounced from end to end without ever passing a goal post. But when Bayern scored the first goal, the spirits immediately lifted as high fives and cheers filled the room. A penalty kick tied the game and in the final few minutes, Bayern’s Robben used some fancy footwork to put the ball into the net. The teams’ celebration was so adorable to watch! They were laughing and crying and dancing and hugging and throwing their coach in the air. We watched the post-game from our seats, still pretty calm in relation to my Mom when the Steelers win.
Just when I started to think, “Wow, this may not be as crazy as when we win the Super Bowl,” we headed out to the streets… One of Lara’s friends made a pretty convincing replica cup out of foil and held it above his head through the entire crowd, not only spurring dozens of chants and cheers, but also giving me a point of reference for where I could locate him, because I was overwhelmingly one of the shortest people celebrating. They shut down a main street and it was flooded with bright red jerseys and scarves, “Super Bayern” chants and a lot of alcohol: no open container laws here! People were climbing atop traffic lights and scaling bus stop stations and the police were standing by, but I didn’t see any interaction with them. Above, there were fireworks and waving Bavarian flags of all sizes and below there was a mosaic of broken beer bottles lining the streets. We only stayed out until about 1:30 a.m., but noise and the level of excitement told me the streets were lively ’til sunrise.
You win, Europe. I’m a converted soccer fan.
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