Una partita indimenticabile
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Last night's partita (soccer match) was indimenticabile (unforgettable). The Fiorentina was playing against Liverpool for the Champions League competition. Almost all the tifosi (soccer fans) that I know who support the Fiorentina also support Liverpool. And when it was announced that the two squadre (teams) would play together, there was great enthusiasm in the city leading up to the partita. Alessandro and I had our commemorative sciarpe (scarves) that have both of the teams' colors and logos to celebrate the partita before it even began.
For the first time we went to the Curva Ferrovia to be closer to the area where the Liverpool tifosi were sitting. From where we were sitting we also had a great view of the coreografia (choreography) that the Curva Fiesole performed before the partita. I didn't bring my usual macchina fotografica (camera), but instead brought a smaller one so that I could take a few foto (photos), like the one shown here of the pitch with the Champions League logo and the Curva Fiesole behind with balloons spelling our city's name. I was very happy to see a striscione (banner) that said, "Welcome Reds! Your history is for us a legend." It was wonderful to see such respect for the other squadra, which is not always present.
When I heard the inno (song) of the Champions League, I felt brividi (chills). During the entire partita the entire stadio (stadium) supported the Fiorentina by singing and cheering.
It was a great partita where we showed the utmost respect for the other squadra. Normally there are a few chants that poke fun at some of the opponents, but with Liverpool there weren't any at all. In fact, we even chanted, "Amo Liverpool! I love Liverpool!" and faced the designated area for the Liverpool tifosi. They applauded us and sang, "Fiorentina!"
When we scored our first rete (goal), we all jumped up and hugged each other even with people we didn't even know. We were all so surprised that we scored against Liverpool because most people thought we wouldn't be able to score at all. With that one rete, the mood changed a little bit as we suddenly had hope and began to fischiare (whistle) when Liverpool had the ball.
Only 8 minutes later, Jovetic scored for the second time, our hope was then replaced with the dread of the rest of the partita in which we'd suffer through it in the hopes that we wouldn't lose.
During the last few minutes, people were yelling at the arbitro (referee), "Fischia! Whistle!" to mark the end of the partita. At the end of the partita, we all let out a sigh of relief. We were all so shocked to have won 2-0 because Liverpool is such a squadrone (big team). We would all have been happy had we at least tied with Liverpool, but to win against them is a dream come true.
Over the past couple of weeks, there was a lot of talk about a gemellaggio (twinning) of the two squadre, but most tifosi feared that Liverpool wouldn't care to do it. After yesterday's partita, I heard that the heads of the fan clubs established a gemellaggio. Not only did we win an important partita against Liverpool, but we also now have a mutual bond to Liverpool.
