My trip to Stadio Guiseppe Meazza wasn’t a long one in that Milan is only a few hours on a flight from Scotland. In reality though, my journey to San Siro really began thirty-two-and-a-half years earlier.
The 8th of June 1990 was the day that I first laid eyes on San Siro, albeit through the television in my family home. I was a week shy of my tenth birthday and had been eagerly anticipating the start of the World Cup that would become known to most simply as Italia 90. It would be the third edition of the summer finals in my lifetime to that point. I had no memory of the finals held in Spain in 1982 as I turned two during the tournament. Four years later and I came away from Mexico 86 with vague recollections of Gordon Strachan being unable to jump an advertising board whilst celebrating a Scotland goal and of course, the name of Maradona had stuck in my mind.
The Italian-hosted tournament would be the first that I was really old enough to fully appreciate. I had been attending Aberdeen games regularly with my dad and watching every second of football that I could on television. I had my wallchart ready to fill in and my World Cup sticker book collection was underway, I doubt I ever completed that.
My first sight of the stadium came in the television coverage ahead of the opening match. The footage was taken from a helicopter flying around San Siro, the beaming red grid across the top of the stadium sparkled in the summer sunshine. The spiral turrets giving the concrete exterior a futuristic look as the camera panned into the stadium and focused down on the lush green turf. It was a stadium unlike anything I had ever seen and I instantly loved it.
The news that Milan and Inter were to move to a new home and that the Guiseppe Meazza may get pulled down was what prompted me to finally travel to a game there. I never chose the game as I had to just go with what was on during my time off work. Inter against Empoli on a Monday night just happened to be the match that was on whilst I was there.
I love going to watch football but as I’ve gotten older, I rarely get excited in the build-up to a match. As I stood on the tube on the way to the game surrounded by Inter fans, I really did feel a sense of excitement about visiting the venue rather than the game it was hosting. I tried to eavesdrop on some of the conversations but by Italian wasn’t good enough to keep up with what they were saying other than the odd word or players name.
As I disembarked the tube and made my way out of the station, I was met by my first sight of the stadium. The red steel grid wasn’t as prominent without sunshine illuminating it, instead the building was glowing with lights around the ground as it stood out against the dark January sky. I made my way along a corridor of food vans and stalls selling flags and scarves and got into the ground as quickly as I could.
I had lost my bearings somewhat as I walked around looking for my designated entry point and when I found it, I wasn’t sure which part of the ground I was walking into. I walked up a flight of stairs and I came out right at the front of the stand from which the television cameras film matches, just above the dugouts. I was delighted to finally be there yet it looked so familiar I almost felt like I had been there before.
After getting myself a beer, I went and took my seat which was at the corner of the stand. It was the corner of the ground where the Cameroon players had celebrated Francois Omam-Biyik’s goal against Argentina in the World Cup opener, 32-and-a-half years earlier. That was the first thing that came to mind when I sat down and looked out at that goalmouth. I then started to reminisce about goals and moments that had taken place in the ground that I had watched on television. Demetrio Albertini’s free-kick goal against Monaco and George Weah running from box-to-box to score for Milan. Ronaldo clipping the ball over Sebastiano Rossi in the derby and Youri Djorkaeff’s spectacular overhead kick against Roma for Inter.
All my favourite Serie A players had played here and the thought of that was quite special as I sat looking around the huge arena. My favourite player of all-time Roberto Baggio kicked the last ball of his Serie A career on the pitch I was now looking at. It had always been a regret of mine that I had never got to watch ‘il divin codino’ in person. Finally getting to San Siro made up for that a little.
There was also a game to be played of course. I was fairly neutral about the match although I felt compelled to back Inter since I was sat amongst their fans. Inter presented the Coppa Italia trophy before the match but their first half performance was a shadow of the one that brought them the silverware the previous week. Empoli had started the game well and when Milan Skriniar got himself sent-off before half-time, it was clear I had not brought the hosts any good luck.
I got a text from a friend at half-time saying ‘I hope you get some goals the second half’. I honestly wasn’t bothered if I did or didn’t. I had seen a load of goals in my mind pre-match so I would’ve been content with 0-0 as I was there for the stadium more than the game.
I did get a second half goal as Empoli scored to take away a 1-0 win on the night ensuring I wasn’t the only visitor from out of town going away happy. A strong performance from the visitors allied to their numerical advantage led to substitute Tommaso Baldanzi scoring the game’s only goal shortly after coming on as a substitute. A late rally from Inter lifted the atmosphere but they were unable to rescue a point and perhaps more importantly, their title hopes.
I left the ground slowly amongst thousands of glum Inter fans but with a big smile on my face. There are few places in the world that I could have visited which would have meant more to me than this old stadium. The pre-match excitement I had felt was definitely the ten-year-old me which had waited over 32-years for this day. I love Italy, Italian football and San Siro and having finally been to the ground, I love it even more.