Dropping in with the Rossoneri...

AC Milan 1-1 Udinese
Serie A
Sunday 7th February 2016

For anyone aged 25 upwards, it's likely they'll consider AC Milan as being right amongst the biggest clubs in the world.

The Rossoneri have lifted the European Cup seven times (second only to Real Madrid) and have scooped multiple Serie A titles (second only to Juventus). They were a 'power house' in European football throughout the 1990s and 2000s and several of the world's greatest ex-players have pulled on their iconic red and black shirt including David Beckham, Marco Van Basten, Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cafu and club legend Paolo Maldini.

Just like their aforementioned domestic rivals who play in black and white and started up after borrowing a kit from Notts County a century ago, Milan's roots can also be traced directly back to Nottingham as their formation occurred inside a city centre residence back in the late 19th century.

However, despite their elite stature and considerable success which they've enjoyed over the years, the absolutely ridiculous sums that have been pumped into England's Premier League through TV rights, plus the limitations of ground-sharing with city rivals Inter Milan, mean they've fallen sharply from the top table of world football over the past decade.

Writing now, in February 2020, they've not qualified for the UEFA Champions League for several years and haven't won a Scudetto for fast-approaching a decade. Without going through the various inner-political issues which are commonplace in Italian football, even though their San Siro home is iconic to fans across the world, it's a place which strangles the club financially. In fairness, both city clubs realised years ago that a move elsewhere was sorely needed in order to properly compete in the present climate; the fact they remain at the ground to this day speaks volumes.

Anyway, wind the clock back to four years ago and Milan were having a typical, bang average season in Serie A. Their star players were Mario Balotelli and Carlos Bacca, whilst Philippe Mexes and Christian Abbiati were amongst their veteran performers who'd been there, seen it, done it and got the proverbial t-shirt during their careers.

I'd planned my trip to Milan as part of a month-long slog around Europe by road - something which might sound a hellish nightmare on first-thought, but not bad considering every journey cost just 50p thanks to Megabus' European franchise! Sadly, it didn't last for very long and the franchise was flogged to Flixbus only a few months later, having run up millions of pounds were of debts. I can't think what went wrong...

As previously stated on this blog, Milan isn't a city which has a vast array of sights, sounds or things to do. If you're the type of person who likes Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, etc, then the shopping experience might tempt you to spend some time here as it's a city designed for shoppers with expensive tastes. If you're a stereotypical fat lad from Yorkshire who prefers budget-friendly options as opposed to bank balance-busting handbags - some of which look like they've been designed by a five-year-old whose been let loose with a paintbrush, then you might feel slightly out of your depth! Just slightly. Just ever so slightly!

There are some sights in and around the city, but it's not like Rome or Florence, for example, where there are loads of things to enjoy - and all of which fit into a budget, too.

I'd arrived in the city in the early hours following a day in Venice having caught a cold and needing some well-deserved rest. The visit was exactly at the midway point through my voyage so I purposely opted to take it steadily - spending most of my time in and around the proximity of my accommodation and adjacent to Milano Centrale Stazione. The main bus/coach terminus, Milano Lampugnano, is located a few kilometres away on the western outskirts of the city, not actually that far from the San Siro, and around a 20-minute bus ride to the city centre.

Never having owned any Versace, Gucci or Louis Vuitton gear in my entire life (not genuine stiff anyway), this trip was simply all about the football. The San Siro is iconic, amongst the best in Europe, and tickets were actually 'cheap' - starting at €21 which, with a €1.00 = £1.31 exchange rate at the time, meant it worked out at about £16 to watch this game making it a total bargain compared to extortionate English Premier League ticket prices! You just have to remember to take your passport with you as Photo I.D is a requirement when attending Italian Football games due to hooliganism issues in previous years.

Their opponents were Udinese; something of an unremarkable regular fixture in Serie A over the years. They were struggling towards the bottom of the table in this campaign, but with enough in the tank to avoid dropping down a division.

Like with many of the trips which I've undertaken, having booked everything I was open to several uncontrollable factors and I seriously doubt there's been many games at the San Siro which have been wetter than this one. It rained, it poured, it rained some more and poured some more throughout a grey, dreary and dismal afternoon which was about as far away from the 'glitz and glamour' of how nice it looked when James Richardson presented Football Italia on Channel Four.

Basically, it was Manchester weather!

The stadium is about a 5-10 minute walk from the Metro Station, aptly named San Siro Stadio, which gave just enough time to get soaked to the bone. From the outside it looks 'historic' with it's infamous spiral towers yet somewhat unforgiving in the same breath as it's pure concrete blocks and has no shiny, glass exterior that you get at so many stadiums elsewhere, right across Europe!

Inside, the desperate need for renovation is apparent with all four stands having different coloured seats; many of which don't see a backside for 90% of games in the season, whilst a lot of the seats themselves are filthy. It's not uncommon to see a few natives rock up in the build up to kick-off with a cigar in their mouth (smoking isn't banned in Italian stadiums) and newspaper in one hand which they use as a seat cover. Because it's council-owned and the authorities aren't exactly in a hurry to bend over backwards and invest in their stadiums, it surprisingly has a very run down and depressive feeling around it.

Both clubs' regular attendances don't help. At the time of this visit, AC were averaging about 30,000 for 'non-important' games whilst Internazionale were getting more through the turnstiles for similar fixtures but still nowhere close to capacity.

Nevertheless, despite all this, when you think back to all the great players, great managers, great games and great moments which have happened at the San Siro - including Dominic Matteo's finest hour, the place remains absolutely iconic and recognisable in an instant and somewhere you'd want to go, if you haven't been previously, just like the Bernabeu, Nou Camp, Estadio Mestalla and some other 'iconic' stadiums.

The game itself wasn't the greatest as Milan were sluggish, played in second gear and struggled to break past their opponents who had a bit of grit about them. Pablo Armero put Udinese ahead early on (and sent their small army of fans situated up in the heavens - comparable to the away end at St James' Park) into raptures, before M'Baye Niang levelled things up shortly after half-time. It wasn't the best performance by Milan; quite laborious, and one of many signs of just how far they've fallen down the elite 'pecking order' of continental football.

I wasn't the only one who'd travelled from afar to see the Rossoneri for this game, however, as the bloke crammed in next to me on the metro train back into the city centre had travelled all the way from Argentina to fulfil his own dream of visiting the San Siro.

As a final point, it might just be me, but Milan's metro network is without doubt the best, cleanest and most efficient in the country. It also has some fantastic station names including Uruguay (the next stop 'up' the line from Lampugnano), Lotto (reminiscent of Billy Connolly on TV adverts), Lima (the capital city of Peru) and Garibaldi (obviously, erm, a biscuit).

On platforms (and even on some metro trains themselves), there are also plasma TV screens with a loop showing different advertisements - one of which had the first few bars from Jeff Buckley's 'Last Goodbye' on it, whilst one busker went on an older metro train and preferred to do a violin rendition of the 'Rondeau' from Henry Purcell's pre-historic 'Abdelazar' theme.

Happy memories. Apart from the weather, flu, and standing out like a sore thumb amongst thousands of affluent, tanned and immaculately-dressed Milanese folk, anyway...