June 14th and today I'm going back 9 years to 2012 and the European Championships held jointly in Poland and the Ukraine. I bought tickets up front direct from UEFA before the tournament Group stage was drawn and ended up seeing three matches in Poland with my mate Welsh Les including this Group C game between Italy and Croatia in Poznan.
In common with several tournaments, there were no programmes issued for individual games other than the Final itself. The programme shown is the official programme (English language version) for the tournament and I also have the versions in Polish and (I think) Russian. The English version will cost you around £12.50 from a dealer although I haven't seen the other versions for sale so perhaps they're more rare?
We based ourselves in Wroclaw (pronounced Vroslov), a charming old town in the South West of the country not too far from the Czech border. Our hotel was only a stroll from the heart of the old City centre and the temporary UEFA Fan Zone so, even on the nights when we had no match to go to, there was plenty going on to keep the travelling football fan happy. One memorable aspect of Wroclaw was the 600 or so dwarf figurines to be found dotted around the City. They're actually a recent phenomenon but I've come across nothing similar to these unique little statues in any other City and they're considered to be a tourist attraction for visitors to Wroclaw. Unlike garden gnomes these little fellows were made of brass and were impossible to steal (not that we needed hostages!).
Two of our scheduled matches were in Wroclaw but we hired a car and drove the couple of hours or so to our other match in Poznan. Poznan's Stadion Miejski (literally Municipal Stadium) has a capacity of around 43,000 and is home to Lech Poznan. Fans in this country have probably heard of the Lech fans and their habit of "doing the Poznan" which involves turning their backs on the action, linking arms and bouncing. Manchester City fans have adopted this form of tribute to their team following a visit to Poznan. Apparently at Lech it's a way of supporting the team whilst showing disapproval of the club's hierarchy. Certainly it's a sight to behold.
The game was the second of three Group Stage matches for each team and a win for Croatia would have taken them through to the knockout stage as they had won their first game whereas Italy could only draw against eventual Group winners Spain in their first outing. Andrea Pirlo (the original rather than the Yorkshire version and considered to be one of the greatest deep lying playmakers ever) scored Italy's goal, a stunning free kick, after 39 minutes but Croatia's Mario Mandzukic equalised mid way through the second half and it finished 1-1. The result left both teams needing to win their final Group stage match which the Italians did against Ireland to advance whilst the Croats crashed 1-0 to Spain conceding with just two minutes remaining and were eliminated.
Italy, being managed by Cesar Prandelli included legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in their side along with Giorgio Chiellini and Mario Balotelli whose time in England and his legendary antics were much loved by the tabloid press. It's difficult to know whether every story about Balotelli's time in Manchester is true but the tale of him setting off fireworks in his bathroom takes some beating! Croatia, managed by Slaven Bilic, were approaching the height of the powers of their "Golden Generation" that was to culminate in their appearance in the 2018 World Cup Final against France. Their side that day included Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic and Harry Redknapp's favourite player: Niko Kranjcar.
I loved my time in Wroclaw and wouldn't hesitate to recommend and indeed Poland for a holiday. We approved of the place and so had no need to "do the Poznan" even in Poznan!
CRB Match No. 1902
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