UEFA Europa League (Group Stage)
Thursday 7th December 2017
As random games go, this one is pretty random!
Vitoria Guimaraes certainly aren't the biggest team in Portugal - even if their stadium was used in the European Championship in 2004, whilst Konyaspor are an obscure 'middle of the road' Turkish outfit who, it's very likely, you won't have heard of before.
Yet they met on the final matchday of the Europa League group stages in 2017/18 with both teams badly needing a win to have any chance of over-throwing Marseille, in second spot, and progressing to the knockout rounds. Red Bull Salzburg were the other team in the group.
Initially, when I booked a week-long trip to Portugal, this game wasn't even part of my plans. It only appeared on the radar as one to go to much nearer the time when I figured out Guimaraes isn't that far from Porto (where I was staying) and certainly commutable - thanks to a cheap, late-night train service which links the two cities.
Having spent the afternoon sightseeing in and around the city (including a cable car ride), I went down to Estadio D. Afonso Henriques around 6.30pm just after sunset, picked up a ticket for around €20 and was one of the first folk in the stadium as a low mist covered the floodlit pitch.
Whoever was in charge of the PA system certainly had good taste in music as Britpop classic after Britpop classic was played, plus a few 'modern' tunes by British bands - think The Courteeners, Oasis, Snow Patrol, etc, and you're on the right lines. Of all the pre-match music I've enjoyed anywhere in Europe, this was certainly the best and, of games I went to in the 2017/18 season, then it could only be rivalled by Rotherham United's offering against Scunthorpe in the play-offs.
The mist didn't really let up at any point and although the capacity of the stadium is around 30,000, roughly a third of that figure passed through the turnstiles to watch the game - including about 50 or so (maybe even less) who'd made the trip from Turkey.
The Portuguese outfit were undoubtedly favourites but they laboured for most part of the game, were frustrated and found themselves behind after a quarter-of-an-hour thanks to a cracking 30-yard top-corner finish by Mehdi Bourabia (see the video above). It meant the natives became restless and barracked their own team for the large part of the remainder, though a grandstand finale was set-up when Ali Turan put through his own net to make it 1-1 on 77 minutes.
Guimaraes knew that if they forced another goal in the closing stages then they'd progress to the knockout stages and although they threw the proverbial 'pia da cozinha' (kitchen sink) at their Turkish counterparts throughout the dying stages, there was to be no further goals and Marseille, who'd lost to Red Bull Salzburg in the other group match, progressed by the skin of their teeth.
To my surprise, on the train back into Porto afterwards there were a group of Tranmere Rovers fans; proof enough that I'd clearly underestimated the global attraction of this heavyweight contest and that Guimaraes and Konyaspor have continental appeal.
Or, as it turned out, they were also on holiday and fancied something to do!
Vitoria Guimaraes certainly aren't the biggest team in Portugal - even if their stadium was used in the European Championship in 2004, whilst Konyaspor are an obscure 'middle of the road' Turkish outfit who, it's very likely, you won't have heard of before.
Yet they met on the final matchday of the Europa League group stages in 2017/18 with both teams badly needing a win to have any chance of over-throwing Marseille, in second spot, and progressing to the knockout rounds. Red Bull Salzburg were the other team in the group.
Initially, when I booked a week-long trip to Portugal, this game wasn't even part of my plans. It only appeared on the radar as one to go to much nearer the time when I figured out Guimaraes isn't that far from Porto (where I was staying) and certainly commutable - thanks to a cheap, late-night train service which links the two cities.
Having spent the afternoon sightseeing in and around the city (including a cable car ride), I went down to Estadio D. Afonso Henriques around 6.30pm just after sunset, picked up a ticket for around €20 and was one of the first folk in the stadium as a low mist covered the floodlit pitch.
Whoever was in charge of the PA system certainly had good taste in music as Britpop classic after Britpop classic was played, plus a few 'modern' tunes by British bands - think The Courteeners, Oasis, Snow Patrol, etc, and you're on the right lines. Of all the pre-match music I've enjoyed anywhere in Europe, this was certainly the best and, of games I went to in the 2017/18 season, then it could only be rivalled by Rotherham United's offering against Scunthorpe in the play-offs.
The mist didn't really let up at any point and although the capacity of the stadium is around 30,000, roughly a third of that figure passed through the turnstiles to watch the game - including about 50 or so (maybe even less) who'd made the trip from Turkey.
The Portuguese outfit were undoubtedly favourites but they laboured for most part of the game, were frustrated and found themselves behind after a quarter-of-an-hour thanks to a cracking 30-yard top-corner finish by Mehdi Bourabia (see the video above). It meant the natives became restless and barracked their own team for the large part of the remainder, though a grandstand finale was set-up when Ali Turan put through his own net to make it 1-1 on 77 minutes.
Guimaraes knew that if they forced another goal in the closing stages then they'd progress to the knockout stages and although they threw the proverbial 'pia da cozinha' (kitchen sink) at their Turkish counterparts throughout the dying stages, there was to be no further goals and Marseille, who'd lost to Red Bull Salzburg in the other group match, progressed by the skin of their teeth.
To my surprise, on the train back into Porto afterwards there were a group of Tranmere Rovers fans; proof enough that I'd clearly underestimated the global attraction of this heavyweight contest and that Guimaraes and Konyaspor have continental appeal.
Or, as it turned out, they were also on holiday and fancied something to do!
