The Conference League final is being played in Tirana: Mourinho’s Giallorossi want to win an international trophy. The eve was marked by clashes between supporters, Albanians and the police
20.16: Verdone, Leo and Blanco
Unverifiable news bounces: Carlo Verdone, Edoardo Leo and Blanco are about to arrive (the latter, according to lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, the other day on the stage of the Radio Italia Live concert would have been literally a victim of sexual violence).
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8.13 pm: the reporter from piacione
In the press gallery an Italian reporter plays the piacione with a blonde Dutch reporter. I like from Rome … You understand me ?. At least some basic English, heck.
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20.07: Pallotta’s shot
Resounding shot by James Pallotta, the former president of Roma whom the fans hate: This Conference League is a minor cup. Political line dictated by Paolo Di Canio.
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8 pm: love from the Olimpico
The news arrives that, in Rome, the Olympic stadium is sold out: with 50,000 fans in front of the big screens. Deep love.
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19.57: jewel stadium (but small)
The stadium, as written, a favor. Delightful. But terribly small. Surrounded by a large arcade, it houses restaurants, bars, shops, and a hotel, which is about to be inaugurated. The project was signed by an Italian architect, Marco Casamonti. I conceived it as the amphitheater in Roman times. The press box is so low, and so close to the pitch, that it will feel like playing (oh, guys: watch out for the quickdraws, you get us right here).
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7.45 pm: a deal of 1000 euros
Touts at work. A little while ago, a Roma fan who arrived in Tirana without a ticket started a sensational negotiation. In the end he took out a thousand euros in cash, put the ticket in his pocket, adjusted his red and yellow scarf, and said: That idiot didn’t understand that, in order to get in, I would have given him double as well. A deal. Well, mo ‘ce vo’ that I wrap myself by an Albanian scalper. What do you do? The first job being a Roma fan. Then, as a second business, I run a rental company.
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19.38: Arrogant slot
The coach of Feyenoord, Arne Slot, arrogantello: Roma has only one pattern: the long ball to look for the attackers. The guy is 43, a modest former midfielder dazzled by Pep Guardiola’s schemes (he’d like him, huh). In the Dutch championship his team finished third: 120 goals scored, 56 those collected (it is likely that Mou, out of these 56, has made some reflections).
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19.36: the superstition on Venditti
Good news for the Romanists on the superstitious front: Antonello Venditti spotted in a hotel nearby. So not already at the Circus Maximus.
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19.31: rumors about Zaniolo
Roma enters the field for the inspection. The rumor that goes around: Zaniolo starts the owner. Relay between Sergio Oliveira and Mkhitaryan. But Mou was quite capable of having sent her around to confuse the Feyenoord coach.
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7.27 pm: unwanted people
According to sources of the Albanian police, 80 Roma fans were brought to Durres and boarded a ferry, destination Bari: unwelcome person, pass (9 injured in last night’s clashes).
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7.21 pm: beers like Dom Perignon
Hoteliers and restaurateurs have decided to raise the GDP of Albania in 48 hours, the latest: hotel prices jumped to frankly immoral figures (chamber of an alleged 3-star hotel sold at 380 euros per night); in bars and restaurants, there are two types of bills: one for regular customers, who pay in Lek, the local currency (Albania not in the European Union); one for the fans, who pay in euros (at the fourth beer, the Dutch do not understand that they are making them pay for it like a bottle of Dom Perignon).
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7.15 pm: the elegance of Friedkin with Rosella
The Friedkins, with a blow of old elegance, also invited Rosella Sensi, daughter of Franco, the president of Rome who won the last Scudetto, here to Tirana.
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7:04 pm: Hoxha’s bad memories
The procession of Roma fans is about to reach the stadium. Drive through a city in a state of siege. Arrangements of police and army (including special troops of Kosovar origin, it seems particularly formidable) such as – tell the Albanians with the deepest wrinkles – they have not been seen since the time of Ever Halic Hoxha, the ferocious Communist dictator who, to farmers, gave cultivate only a long row of potatoes, and never a plot (he feared that over time they might develop strange ideas about the concept of private ownership).
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6.43 pm: Totti head of state
Francesco Totti received as a Head of State: he had lunch with Prime Minister Edi Rama and with the number one of the Albanian Football Federation, Armando Duka. Ceferin was there too. Totti accompanied by former Roma players (Aldair, Candela, Di Biagio). Nobody knows what the official language of the meeting was.
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6.30 pm: a miracle is already needed
The first WhatshApp not to get our hands on. To, really, in short: let’s hope everything goes well. The incidents of last night are a bad omen. very risky is the idea of Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin to have the first Conference League final played in this stadium favor, the Arena Kombetare, twenty thousand seats without barriers, Dutch hooligans and ultra-Roma players in contact, and a crowd that is not well estimated that buzzes around here without a ticket. If everything goes smoothly, before, during and after the game, we are inside the miracle. Do you believe in miracles?
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May 25, 2022 (change May 25, 2022 | 20:25)
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