Football Days

Stadio Bentegodi - Hellas Verona FC

Hellas Verona 1-1 Cesena

16/11/12 - Serie B

Att: 14,557

Ever since reading Tim Parks' superb book "A Season With Verona" The Gialloblu became my Italian team and it became an ambition of mine to visit the Bentegodi to see Verona in action. Browsing the EasyJet website one evening I noticed Gatwick flew direct to Verona and in November flights could be booked for £40 return, which was cheaper than going to Manchester for the Villa game that weekend. I floated the idea to a few mates and before long there were six of us booked up for four days of madness in Italy.

It all began on Thursday evening as we met in the pub and got the last train from Farnborough North to Gatwick Airport. Some of the lads stayed in Wetherspoons all night ahead of the flight, but after a thirteen hour shift at work I lasted til about 2am when I decided it was time to take a nap. A few hours later we went through the tedious security process and waited to board the plane, with two Hellas fans waiting in the queue ahead of us. I was far too tired to strike up any conversation, but my mate spoke to them and they said this was the fourth time they'd been over to see them play this season. It was only an hour and a half between leaving southern England and landing in northern Italy and we jumped in a taxi and headed straight to our apartment. After dropping our stuff off we decided to look for a bar nearby and as we left the complex and looked to our right, we saw some floodlights. It turns out the stadium was at the end of the road, just a stone's throw away so we went and had a look around before having a beer in Bar Bentegodi.

You wouldn't know that there were two main teams in Verona and you certainly wouldn't know that the Stadio Bentegodi is shared with a team that's played ten of the last eleven seasons in the top flight, with Chievo not getting a single mention anywhere around the stadium or within the city. It's quite clear who is the number one club in the city, despite the fact that they were relegated from Serie A in 2002, dropped into the third tier in 2006/07 and came within a whisker of going down again the following season. After four agonising seasons in Serie C1, in which time the club enjoyed attendances better than some Serie A clubs and all but one team in Serie B, they were promoted and last season was their first back in the second tier of Italian football. They enjoyed a good season, finishing in fourth place but they were beaten by Varese in the semi-finals of the play offs. There appears to be little sign of any play off hangover as Verona made an excellent start to the season and have been in the thick of the promotion race throughout the campaign so far.

Remarkably there have only ever been two meetings between Hellas and Chievo, with the latter spending the majority of their history in the lower leagues. In fact it wasn't until 1986 that Chievo moved into the Bentegodi following promotion to Italy's fourth tier for the first time in their history. It was a year after what is known as "the year of the miracle" when Hellas Verona captured their only league title and many within the city had never heard of the minnows from Chievo, with Verona fans taunting them with comments such as "donkeys will fly before Chievo play in Serie A" - Well, in 2001/02 The Flying Donkeys were in Serie A for the first time and the first ever Derby della Scala took place, with Hellas Verona running out 3-2 winners. Chievo won the return fixture and by the end of the season were a league above their city rivals, as they have been ever since.

The stadium itself is very impressive, first opened in 1963 and renovated for the 1990 World Cup. It's capacity of just under 40,000 makes it the second biggest in the league, behind Bari's San Nicola which has a capacity of 58,000. Due to the running track that surrounds the pitch in the Bentegodi it creates a circle shape and therefore it was quite hard to tell which stand was which from the outside. It was quite disappointing that there were no real signs on the outside of the stadium and also no club shop, as it was located in the city centre. We eventually found the ticket office where we had to present our passports and have all our details entered on a computer before they'd sell us tickets. We also had to bring passports to the match before they'd let us in.

After purchasing our tickets we headed back to the apartment for a few beers before walking back up to the stadium a few hours later for the match. Outside there were the usual array of stalls set up selling merchandise and food, just like you get in England, as well as a lorry selling official club merchandise. There was a good atmosphere around the ground and no hint of trouble, mainly due to the small number of travelling Cesena fans. We finally found the right turnstile and went into the stadium and we were delighted to discover that we could take our beers into our seats, which is an excellent idea and makes the evening much more enjoyable.

As we entered the stadium it was difficult not to be impressed by the sheer size of the place. Due to the way it's been extended, with an extra tier being added in 1989, the stands are made up of several tiers of differing sizes which creates an interesting look. With attendances at the stadium rarely reaching half of the capacity there were several areas which weren't open, including the north end of the stadium which remained empty apart from around 200 or so travelling fans who were tucked away in the upper tier. One area of the ground that was full was the Curva Sud, where the Verona ultras are located. Large yellow and blue banners were draped along the front of the stand with plenty of flags being waved throughout the game and an excellent atmosphere being created.

Verona fans were among the first to bring a British style of support to Italy and are known for having one of the most varied songbooks in the country with plenty of English style chants being adapted to the Italian language. They're also known for their loyalty, following the team in great numbers away from home and throughout the toughest times in their history. When Verona were relegated to Serie C1 they sold 10,000 season tickets and continued to attract bigger crowds than many clubs in higher divisions, including their city rivals.

Going into this match Verona were favourites and would go top of the league with a victory due to the match being played on the Friday night. Their opponents Cesena were relegated from the top flight last season and have struggled to adapt to life in Serie B, finding themselves in 16th place.

It was no surprise that Verona made the strongest start to the match and dominated the opening exchanges. They'd created several half chances before inevitably taking the lead after just 16 minutes when Argentine midfielder Emanuel Rivas finished well after some nice build up play. Moments later Verona thought they'd doubled their lead, but the linesman's flag was up and the goal was ruled out. Despite continued pressure they couldn't capitalise and at half time the score was 1-0 to the home side.

The second half had begun the same way as the first half had finished, but in the 53rd minute Cesena had the ball in the Verona half and Dokovic had their first attempt on goal from 30 yards out and it flew straight into the top corner. It was a superb goal and it stunned the home crowd into silence as the travelling Cesena fans rejoiced at their side's unlikely equaliser. With the scores level Verona continued to press in search of a winning goal that their supporters craved. After plenty of huffing and puffing they couldn't make the breakthrough, with clear cut chances at a premium throughout the second period. At the full time whistle there was an air of disappointment and frustration that the home side couldn't take all three points, but their opponents and their fans were delighted with the final score.

We got away from the ground easily enough and after buying the nicest burger I've ever had a football ground we made our way back to the apartment after a very enjoyable evening of football. At the time of writing Verona's league form has slipped a bit, although they're third in the league they find themselves six points behind second placed Livorno. They've had some joy in the Coppa Italia though with victories over Serie A sides Genoa and Palermo setting up a last sixteen tie with Inter at the San Siro.

Our remaining days in Verona were spent mainly touring the local bars of a magnificent city, where we met many friendly people who took a great interest in a group of Englishmen coming over to see a football match. It was a brilliant weekend and it completely lived up to my expectations. The stadium was great, the atmosphere was ace, the city is lovely and I'd be more than happy to return one day. Forza Hellas!