#happydance

And me, spontaneous decision after seeing that I was free on that day? Asked my friend if she would buy me a ticket. I couldn't even sit next to her, but I was pretty happy with a seat in the front row since I sometimes have problems in the middle of a big crowd. That was September the 2nd.

And then on September 10th came the announcement that one of those friends would be Christoph Kramer. Or, as my friend said: "Look, your favourite is coming too!" And me, torn between "squeeee!" and "It's still a long time, he probably has another team by then and is not allowed to play!" And thus the waiting game began...

But many other names were announced where I was happy! Ex-team mates, and especially Stefan Ortega Moreno, who is now the goalie no. 2 for Manchester City and therefore a Champions League winner! Thank you Pep Guardiola for allowing him to fly in and play!

And yesterday morning I was almost convinced that Chris would not show up. Combine his habit of being a last-minute-showup with the fact that Bielefeld is currently pretty much cut off from ICE train services... well. But I was determined to have a good time no matter what! :-) My friend was happy to have me there and entertained me with stories from her fan career, which was fabulous because usually she's not the enthusiastic type! She sat next to me when the players came in for warm up, and I was internally "Don't get your hopes up, don't get your hopes up..." and then she nudged me and pointed. "Look there!" And there may have been dolphin noises :-)

Then she had to go to her seat, and I readied my camera. I'll make an extra post with some ChriKra pics, I have a few not-too-blurry ones. So, the highlights:

Uh, everything? :-) Twenty thousand people in the stadium singing the Arminia hymn. Fabi getting on the green with his kids. Ex-Trainer Stefan Krämer in his usual short-sleeved shirt (brrrrrr...). Chris being cute with his player escort girl, and lining up for the player greeting directly in my line of sight. (Meeeeep...) Daniel Danger being funny. Stefan Ortega ("Tego") doing spectacular saves and 20.000 people shouting "Tego für Deutschland!", and being interviewed on the field during the game. Fabi making a goal, and 20.000 people shouting "Klooos! Fußballgott!" Chris being on the field for half an hour. Seeing Fabi and Vogi ("Klosammer") play together again and even score. Tego for the second half sneakily donning a striker jersey and playing on the field. The whole atmosphere being relaxed, happy and positive. Chris clearly enjoying the whole vibe and dancing to Bon Jovi, and I think it was his player escort girl who got his shirt. A surprise farewell for Manuel Prietl who also was a longtime player but never got a proper farewell. And then finally Fabi doing his tearful farewell speech and lap of honour, hugging everyone and getting standing ovations. I frantically took pictures in order not to cry too much myself...

I bought a scarf and kept my souvenir cup. At home we had one or two glasses of wine and settled for "Gazelle" as a nickname for Chris :-)