The final leg of our Bavarian stay ended in the small town of Furth just outside Nuremberg, home to Spvgg Greuther Furth, recently promoted to the Bundesliga after a long stay in the second division. Furth was to be our furthest trek from Munich taking just under two hours to reach Nuremberg and a further 10 minutes onto our destination, the interestingly named 'Trolli Arena'.
Getting onto a train packed with returning Eintracht Frankfurt fans after a 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich we made it to Nuremberg with around four hours to kick off. Sundays in Germany tend to be a bit of a non-event if you discount the football, everything closes, towns are empty aside from the odd cafe and fast food eateries open and people wander gazing at the shop windows praying for the 'open' sign to appear.
Fortunately Nuremberg is a pretty and historic city with impressive city walls and architecture amongst the best we've come across in Germany. After wandering down by the opera and spending time in the market square we returned to the central station to make the quick journey to Furth.
Rumour has it actress Sandra Bullock and former U.S secretary of state Henry Kissenger are former residents of Furth so expectations were high as we pulled in to the main station. Quite why such high profile people would choose Furth over the picturesque Nuremberg was a bit of a head-scratcher but nevertheless we went on in search of the ground.
Getting to the arena is as easy as any other in Germany, buses are laid on for fans from the main station and as a rule of thumb, if in doubt: Follow the fans. Amidst a sea of green and white given that today's visitors, our old friends from Monchengladbach, sported the same colours as the home side, we arrived at the Trolli arena. Trolli I should add are a brand of sweets, the German Rowntrees if you will, with a hideous pink logo splattered around the ground which brought horrible memories of the time when Sheffield Wednesday were sponsored by Chupa-Chups.
The stadium itself is a tidier affair than it was earlier in the season, the uncovered ends have now had the luxury of a brand new roof and scoreboard with terracing at one end with half of the opposing stand given to terracing for away supporters and home fan's on the opposite side. Thinking myself clever when booking the cheapest seating tickets in the stadium and not wishing to be exposed to the elements, I had booked us tickets beside the dug-outs which turned out to be the only uncovered seats in the entire ground, blast!
To further worsen the mood the heavens opened with Peter Kay style 'fine rain that soaks you through' this was not looking good. After a hearty bratwurst and a pint followed by a trip to leprechauns layer (the club shop) to buy a green and white scarf we entered the stand. When I say stand think more temporary seating as seen at grounds such as Gillingham or the 18th hole at the British Open which is accessed via a narrow alleyway, at least that part was covered I suppose.
The moment the teams emerged from the tunnel it was as if a miracle had occurred, the rain stopped. Fans around us rejoiced and there were plenty of them! Pockets of Monchengladbach supporters mixed with Furth in our section made for a sell-out crowd for this one and for all the stadium's flaws, it can't half produce an atmosphere. The north stand contained the Furth ultras directly to our left who replicated a bouncing sea of green while the 'Gladbach ultras to the right belted out their back catalogue.
Furth began brightly and almost instantly created opening's with Gerald Asamoah, the big man up front causing headaches for Monchengladbach's defence. However a dubious foul on the very edge of the box saw a penalty awarded to the home side after just ten minutes, Nehrig stepped up against Ter Stegen and fired the ball comfortably down the middle to put the home side 1-0 up. Furth by this point were playing some sublime counter-attacking football and coming close on numerous occasions to adding to their goal.
Against the run of play, Borussia broke beyond the Furth back line and Patrick Herrmann got ahead of big Thomas Kleine only for the defender to pull back the 'Gladbach striker, the now familiar sight the red card being produced sent Furth down to 10 men as Kleine walked. Pressure began to build as Monchengladbach smelled blood. Hermann broke down the right and pulled the ball across onto the head of Oscar Wendt to bring the away side level.
Furth however are no pushover and despite the one-man defecit they kept at it, Asamoah looking threatening up front despite being the lone striker and winger Sercan Serarar creating openings was just a warning of what was to come. A slick move involving Asamoah who played a sublime ball to Edgar Prib to finish across Ter Stegen and send the Furth fans into dreamland on half time stunned the away support, this wasn't supposed to happen.
After a world record wait for the half time toilets the second half got underway and no sooner had the game restarted, there was further bad news for Furth. Asamoah signalled to the bench with a bad case of falling down shorts and what looked like a hamstring strain, a sub was imminent and on came the bean-pole figure of Christopher Nothe to lead the line, a standing ovation for Asamoah and thoroughly deserved.
Sadly the game turned on that change as Monchengladbach's man advantage began to tell, a corner from the right delivered by the impressive Havard Nordveit met a flick on into the path of defender Martin Stranzl to level the scores. Further attacks followed as Mike Hanke released Lukas Rupp down the right who picked out Herrmann at the far post to head in for 3-2, incredible turnaround.
Furth fans and players alike were delighted to see Herrmann exit the field but not so delighted to see his replacement, the quick and tall striker Peniel Mlapa who's impact proved imminent as a run down that right hand side again lead to a cross hitting the arm of a Furth defender, penalty and inexplicably a second yellow card for the unfortunate Pekovic. Tobias Marx stepped up to power the spot-kick past the helpless Grun to seal a memorable victory for Borussia.
If we thought the drama was to end there we were very much mistaken. On the way back to Munich there were reports of an S-bahn train toppled over close to Ingolstadt which meant no through routes to Munich direct leading us to divert through Augsburg finally arriving back in Munich at 1am. After three games, eleven goals and an incredible five red cards we concluded the Bavaria does the football fan experience rather well. If quality beer, historical architecture and alpine friendliness are your thing then don't hesitate to catch a game here, or three.
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