A little before 1pm on Friday, after driving through England, France and Spain, shelling out €280 on petrol and setting up base at their suburban campsite, a trio of tired but happy Liverpudlians found themselves in a Madrid tube station and tantalisingly close to their goal. Or, with any luck, goals.
All that stood between them and the festivities leading up to Saturday’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur was a successful navigation of the capital’s public transport system to get them to the Plaza Mayor.
“We drove for 24 hours solid,” said Russell Helsby, who had shared the driving with his brother, Thomas, and son, another Russell.
“We left Liverpool at 5am on Thursday and arrived at our campsite at 6.05 this morning. It’s definitely going to be worth it, though, without a doubt.”
Unlike thousands of other fans who had embarked on similar odysseys, the family had at least managed to get tickets.
“You’re not going to drive all that way without a ticket, are you?” reasoned Russell Sr.
Not everyone had been so lucky. Less than half of the 70,000 fans expected to descend in waves on the Spanish capital will be watching the game from inside the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
For many though, just being in Madrid was enough – especially with tickets reportedly changing hands for up to £6,000.
Jan Klepaker and his sons Kristian and Peder had come from Norway to the Plaza Mayor to demonstrate their familial devotion to the reds.
“I got my first Kevin Keegan shirt from an uncle when I was seven or eight – that’s how it started,” said Jan. “My sons never had any choice over who they supported.”
Given the lack of tickets and the high price of accommodation in Madrid – hotel occupancy rates are at 95% – why had they decided to travel so far?
“It’s here,” said Jan, pointing to the club crest on his chest, “and here”, lifting his right calf to show a Liverpool tattoo.
On Sunday, he added, he would update the tattoo with another star to reflect Livepool’s sixth European victory: “I think we’ll win 3-1.”
Derek Devlin, who had come over from Dublin with his son Jamie and a huge banner, was looking for tickets but was an old hand at following his beloved Liverpool around the globe.
“We drove to Kiev last year and we go to a lot of games,” he said.
“We’ve been OK this trip – we booked the accommodation last August and we booked direct flights from Dublin a few months ago. We don’t have tickets yet but we’ll get them. We always do.”
Spurs fans were less in evidence in the main square, which teemed with red strips, TV crews, and performers hoping for selfies and tips by dressing as Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse and Charlie Chaplin.
Neil Brown, from Hertfordshire, holds a Spurs season ticket so had secured entry for the bargain price of £60. With direct flights proving ridiculously expensive though, he had flown to Málaga and got the train to Madrid on Thursday.
“There are people trying to sell hotel rooms for £2,000 a night,” he said. “It’s crazy. I’m sleeping on the floor of a room my brother’s paid £190 for.”
Like his fellow Tottenham supporters, he felt he needed to be here. “This is the first time we’ve been in the final and we might win it,” he said. And anyway, he added: “To dare is to do.”
“We’re just pleased to be here whatever happens, win or lose,” said fellow Spurs fan Adam Warner. “But I think we’re going to win. I just want to sing and make the reds go quiet.”
Although word had it that some Liverpool fans were en route to Madrid via Ethiopia, few had come as far as Dragan Brajkovic and his friend Miro Susa.
The Australians, who sat drinking viciously expensive beers in a cafe at the edge of the plaza, had flown Sydney-Bangkok, Bangkok-Dubai, Dubai-Barcelona, then down to Madrid.
“I’ve left a five-week-old baby at home so it’s been a hard sell,” said Brajkovic. “But we’ve come here to see the red men lift number six.”
Susa had similarly high expectations: “I’ve flown from the end of the world to watch this team play so I hope we win.”
All things considered, mused Brajkovic, it was shaping up to be a fairly expensive outing. “The flights cost A$1,600 (£880) accommodation another A$1,000 (£550) and we’ll probably spend another A$1,000 (£550) on beer.”
Given the proliferation of empty glasses on the table and the prices, that seemed a fairly reasonable estimate.
