Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 Kairat, Thursday 20th August 2015

Bordeaux 1-0 Kairat, Europa League play-off, 2nd leg (att. 24,795)

Welcome to ....

It’s Wednesday, I’m in Germany, and I’m due to meet my partner in Biarritz, south-western France, on Friday.  How handy then that Bordeaux, a little way up the coast from Biarritz, have a home game in the Europa League on the Thursday night.  I’m there!  Even better, Bordeaux’s new stadium, the imaginatively named ‘Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux’ is due to be one of the stadia used at Euro 2016, so I get a sneak preview!

There it is!  My 1st view.

After interrailing from Germany (be careful: there’s limited tickets for high speed trains within France so they have to be booked in advance), I arrived in Bordeaux at a decent time.  Certainly, I had time to put my (blistered) feet up at my accommodation for an hour, before hitting the town.  Bordeaux is a glorious place. I can see why that Maths teacher ran away here with his (school) girl friend.  This reminds me of one of my favourite ever jokes, probably unprintable here.  Ask me if you ever meet me!

Exercise.  Not good for one's health.

But I’ve visited before, so am more interested in scoping out the new stadium.  And as befits these things, it’s built a lot further out than its predecessor.  Thankfully, regular tram services run up there, taking about 20 minutes.  Tram C, last stop, heading toward ‘Parc des Expositions/Stade’.  Once there, you meet a plethora of average victual stalls, all of whom were massively overpriced.  I bought my ticket to the match (a very reasonable €10) and headed back to town for food, ready to return closer to kick-off time.

Fanzone food stalls.  No thanks.

The stadium is STUNNING.  One of, if not THE most beautiful I’ve ever seen from the outside.  From the hundreds of ‘poles’ holding up the structure, to its brilliant white, gleaming in the evening summer sun, to the sleek art-deco curves of the staircases…it was fair to say I was impressed.  So what if it’s a journey to get here, it’s worth it.  Would I feel the same in winter, in the rain?  Would it become ‘weathered’?  And what about when it gets graffitied, or covered in the stickers of opposing fans?  Well, we’ll see.

Bootiful.  Really bootiful.

Girondins de Bordeaux’s opponents tonight were FC Kairat. No, me neither. But they’re from Almaty which is…..any idea……the biggest city in Kazakhstan.  I learnt that from Wikipedia.  (Astana is the capital).  So I wasn’t expecting too many away fans, but the authorities had dragged some Asiatic people up from somewhere and given them all flags to wave. It all looked too organised, too suspicious to me, but they added to the atmosphere.

The Kazakh invasion.

The capacity of the new stadium is over 41,000 and 25,000+ were here tonite, very reasonable considering the game, less so considering the reduced entry price.  I chose a place behind the goal, with the Girondins ultras.  Except I went upstairs, to get a better view and a sit down.  But the ultras were a lively bunch, and gave it their all.

Girondins.  Definitely not Jacobins.

The match itself wasn’t all that.  Bordeaux were obviously the better side, but were unable to transmit their superior ability into a rout.  They went ahead before the half hour mark to level the tie, but thereafter couldn’t force another.  Fortunately, the onus was on Kairat, who were otherwise out on away goals and so it proved.  A valiant effort from the far easterners, but it wasn’t to be.  They and their yellow flags would have to return from whence they came.  I headed back for an early night, ready for the Big Meet!

The ultras.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€4.50 hotdog
€8 beer (€2 deposit)
= €22.50

The Tunes:
St. Vincent (St. Vincent)
Souvlaki (Slowdive)
Sunshine Hit Me (The Bees)
Staring at the Sea: The Singles 1979-85 (The Cure)

Love it.

Looking down one side.

Everything about it is magnificent.

Perfection.

Check out the curves...and is that someone HUGGING the stadium?

More sexy curves.

On the concourse.

Exec boxes and wheelchair space above.

Makes you wonder why giant screens aren't 2-sided (yet).

The view from the upper tier.

Best seats in the house.

Sleekness personified.

Match action.

A sparsely populated rest of stadium.

Final score.

Stragglers leaving the stadium.

The stadium lit up.

Beautiful.