Going to FC Koln vs. Bayer Leverkusen Tomorrow

Post pictures of you don’t mind and report back on experience. Sounds like awesome

Just got it on the TV. Where you at?

Hey sorry for the delay on this, I finally got around to posting some pictures.

Click HERE for some photos. I just tossed them in Google Slides.

Quick recap of my experience:

I went to Cologne with my brother from Saturday to Monday via train from Berlin. He lives in Berlin, and I wanted to see what some of his life is like (I speak no German).

On the train into Cologne, I double checked the Bundesliga schedule and saw FC Koln was hosting Leverkusen on Sunday, which worked perfectly. There were very few tickets for resale (as expected), so I bought the cheapest one with a seat, which was 99 Euro on Viagogo. The match was completely sold out, which is dope since it is a derby and Leverkusen is literally only ten miles from Cologne.

I took the tram there from the city center and getting in took like 15-20 minutes. I got all the way to the front of the ticket scanner after going through security and my ticket did not work. I went in on a North gate (right by like N11), and my section was N15. When it scanned red, everyone looked at me like I was a complete moron. They pointed at a different entrance, so I ran over to that one and got in. Unfortunately, I missed the first few minutes because of that.

What I had no clue was that it was the Leverkusen supporters section, and the entrance was like a jail cell with our section separated by plexiglass, spikes at the top, and then a netting all the way up to avoid anyone from crossing or throwing things.

I could not even get to my seat where I would have stood, so I just stood in the stairway and joined in on the Leverkusen chants. It was a dope experience, and I am so glad I got to watch the match from where I did.

Leverkusen dominated throughout as Koln had an early red, but Koln had a great chance hit the post when down 1-0. Leverkusen won 2-0 to continue their undefeated campaign.

At the bottom row of the Leverkusen supporters section, the plexiglass only goes waist high with netting above that, so the fans starting fighting in the last ten minutes by trying to grab each through the netting. A ton of people were throwing beer over the glass, and I was glad that I was not close to that lol.

After the match, armed riot police kept us in the stadium and then slowly walked everyone back to the train after they cleared out all the Cologne fans. That was kind of a pain waiting around, but they had to do it.

I am so glad I went, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Xabi Alonso has elite managerial presence and style.