The match itself was merely an excuse to visit the Estonian capital. Tallin does make an impression of a modern city however with quite a rich tradition with its Old Town being a mixture of German, Russian and Scandinavian influence. The restaurants and cafes in the centre are mainly reigned by the Finns who seem to fully enjoy the price differential for alcohol versus their domestic market. Many Estonians do speak decent English and Russian even more – this “Soviet Union brand” will certainly persist over the years to come – it simply pays off, there are no bigger markets than Russia in the direct neighbourhood.

A somewhat colloquial Russian could be heard on the football pitch. Levadia had demolished the host team without a shadow of respect for their name! Communication across the players was made with the use of vocabulary which attracted the interest of my 9-year-old son (Russian is not that far off from Polish). I chose to pretend I did not hear the question and mentioned the qualities of nice weather instead.

The price appeared pretty adequate versus the competition level as well as attending crowds (40-50 people in total, including us both): free of charge. Only then I understood the confusion of the people whom I had bothered with my funny enquiry “Will the tickets be still available on the match day?”