We bought the ticket through theclub webpage and printed those at home – I was surprised how easy that was even if my French does not practically exist. At the gates we faced a little problem: the infra red reader could not scan the barcode on either of the tickets and no green light was granted. Security guys then decided to hold a short meeting and deployed an emergency solution – we were shown with clear gestures how to jump over the entry bars. A bit blunt? Maybe, but same time very efficient.

Both Poles came out in the first 11. Jelen procured a penalty whilst Dudka made a good use of it thus saving the draw for AJ Auxerre.

The town is picturesque however a bit sleepy: after the match i.e. around 9 pm (on Saturday!) the restaurant personnel looked at us as if we were green and bearing small antennas on our heads. Finally, a creperie showed some mercy and let us in to have some food. So that we would not get spoiled with this extensive courtesy, the waiters started pulling the tables and chairs whilst we were still having our dinner. On the way back we made a stopover at our friends in Dijon and complained about the situation. They only shrug in a response: “What else did you expect from a provincial backwater?”