Germany: Hertha Berlin v Augsburg

Hertha Berlin 2-0 Augsburg
Bundesliga, April 9 2017

Nearly three months later, I finally summon the effort to write about my trip to the German capital. A game in Germany is often spoken of as a great way to experience a football match, so this was one of the trips I was keener to tick off sooner or later.

I decided on an April date, initially the plan was to see either Borussia Dortmund or Cologne in the preceding midweek set of fixtures, but before I could sort out any plans, a rearranged Bolton game was moved to that date, and with us in the promotion race I didn't want to miss any of our games where I didn't have to.

So I looked at the following Sunday, saw Hertha at home at 3.30pm and thought that was a perfect opportunity to fly to Berlin in the morning, watch the match, have a few more beers in the evening and then some sightseeing on Monday before going home. Perfect.

Lots of positive things are said about the German matchday 'experience' (a horrible phrase, I do apologise) but the set-up is so fan-friendly.

Firstly, with a match ticket, you can get around the city for the entire day using public transport for free. I paid 22 euros for my ticket, so that's the same price for Bundesliga action as I paid for an average League One away game last season. This was for an upper tier ticket at the Olympiastadion. Tickets were 15 euros for the standing section below me but I seemed unable to buy those online, maybe they aren't generally available.

On getting off the S-Bahn at the stadium, there are lots of little vans and stalls selling reasonably priced beer and sausages, very German, but again a great area and a great idea for fans to enjoy themselves pre-match. There were also stalls with an impressive range of football merchandise, including badges and scarves from a number of British clubs, right down the leagues. Wigan. Yep. Grimsby. Yep. Newport? Oh yes of course.

Once I went through the turnstiles the design of the stadium meant there was more open areas, where food was plentiful, and beer was available by the litre at reasonable prices. You can also take it into the stand.

As for the match, Hertha were in the European reckoning while Augsburg were struggling down the other end, which showed. John Brooks scored the opener before Valetin Stocker doubled the lead before half time after decent work from Salomon Kalou in the build-up. The standing fans below me jumped up and down from 15 minutes before kickoff until the final whistle, aided by some guy with a megaphone, and despite the running track still managed to create a decent noise that didn't get lost in an open ground.

Getting away after the game was easy, and I did some of the usual tourist stuff for the rest of my time there, including a look at the GDR Museum, Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate.