Duisburg

Ground: MSV-Arena

Visits: 1

Date: 26th February 2010

Match: MSV Duisburg - Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 2-2 (2. Bundesliga)

Attendance: 17 844

Day 2 of my trip started with a 3 hour train journey to Düsseldorf where I was to be based for the weekend. My hotel was close to Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof and once there I could rest for a couple of hours. Duisburg is only 20 minutes by S-bahn from Düsseldorf and once there I met up with my friend Maik. There was a notable police presence at Duisburg Schlenk station and as I wandered around the platforms I was asked by a policeman what I was doing. I replied I was waiting for a friend and thought there was a waiting room. Since there wasn´t I went back up to the shelter at the platform. The policeman, clearly not expecting the reply in English, said OK and moved on!

When Maik arrived we walked up to the ground to take some pictures and Maik then showed me two floodlights and a scoreboard standing outside the ground. They belonged to the old ground and have for some reason been kept. MSV-Arena was built during 2003 and 2004. It was built on the same site as MSV Duisburg´s old ground, Wedaustadion, and unlike its predecessor MSV-Arena is a proper football ground with no running tracks. With a capacity of 31 500 it is rarely sold-out nowdays when Duisburg play in 2.Bundesliga. A game against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is derby though and even if tonight´s visitors aren´t seen as Duisburg´s main rivals I was looking forward to a decent crowd and an atmosphere worthy of a local derby. The first half of the game was the most entertaining I had watched for quite a while. Loads of missed chances, four goals actually scored and an excellent atmosphere. The second half was goalless but nevertheless not bad at all. It finished 2-2 and two days in Germany had meant 9 goals for me. Not bad! Afterwards we went to Düsseldorf´s Altstadt for a drink and I can understand why this is a popular and famous place. Plenty of nice shops and restaurants in a nice environment.

msv arena