Living in Gelsenkirchen, one would expect that you visit the Veltins Arena for a Schalke04 match at least once. I had tried to stay away for as much as I could knowing that singing songs against Borussia Dortmund was one of their main hobbies there. However I also had never been to see a Uefa Europa League™ match before, especially one involving French underdogs Nice. So as part of my ground-hopping series, I decided to pay them a visit!
Nice are currently at the top of the French League 1 (at time of writing) and for football fans around the world, this means a drastic change from what used to happen before. The french football league is usually dominated by the Parisian side PSG who always win the league. However this season Nice have taken it by storm: 1st place with only 1 loss (once again, at time of writing). Schalke on the other hand did not have the best of starts this season but are slowly making their way up the German Bundesliga table.
This scenario is much different when it comes to the Europa League. The two teams are in ‘Group I’ where Schalke are the leaders of the group and funnily enough Nice are in the last place. Then again with the talented players both teams have, it was not something I would think twice about when I decided to buy a ticket the day before the match.
I got to the stadium at about 6.15PM and went straight to the ticket booth to collect my ticket and made my way over to the nearest fanshop to get myself a scarf. Of course being a Dortmund supporter, a Schalke scarf was out of the question however a match scarf with both of the teams’ crests on it would definitely be enough for me to add to my collection.
The Veltins Arena as we saw it on the stadium tour
It was not my first time at the Veltins. I had visited the stadium with the erasmus group some time ago when we took a stadium tour which wasn’t exactly impressive.
With a certain mechanism, the turf is transported out of the stadium when not in use. This is because the stadium is rented out for parties and concerts. As a result all we could see were the stands in a stadium without any turf whatsoever.This time however, it was very different. The turf was in place and the fans were also there. The stadium was buzzing with excitement and despite me being behind enemy lines, I was actually getting into the feel of the game.
I was quite early inside the stadium and so I decided to get something to drink. This was a failed attempt however as just like the Signal Iduna Park, you have to have a ‘stadion deckel’. So I just went to look for my seat inside the stadium.
The view from my seat on the night
The seat I had was possibly the best seat I’ve ever had at any game I’ve ever watched. It was in the second row, very close to the mid-way line. Nice fans were seated (most of them standing any way)at one corner of the pitch and the rest was all Königsblau.
It was about to be possibly the quietest 2hours I’ve ever had to be.
I had bought the ticket hoping to see one of Nice’s current stars, Mario Balotelli. However he was not part of the squad and I’m assuming if he were in, the match would have had a very different result. Schalke dominated throughout the match and after a blunder from the Nice goalkeeper, Schalke opened the score through one of their new signings Yevhen Konoplyanka. Schalke scored their second goal from a Dennis Aogo penalty. I guess it was one of those No Balotelli, no Party kind of games. Just like in all my previous football match visits, The home team won the match and the city of Gelsenkirchen was happy that night.
The Schalke Ultras
It was one of the most awkward experiences ever for me though, considering I did not wish for the Schalke team to win and there were no Nice goals to celebrate. I was pretty impressed with how the Schalke supporters never stopped their chants during the match. In spite of this, having to stand in a crowd waiting for the tram back home while listening to everyone sing every Anti-BVB chant which came to mind was nearly painful. God knows what would have happened if at that very moment someone knew I was an enemy supporter. It goes without saying that I was very glad to be back home after that experience.
You can have a look at rest of the match’s highlights: here
This post was written in the light of the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE fixture: Schalke04 vs OGC Nice on the 24th of November 2016
Have you ever been to a UEFA Europa League™ fixture?
let me know about your experience on twitter or in the comment section below… and don’t forget to share this with all your family and friends!
Fixmeister on Tour! 
