Footy On The Med

It's a sparkling affair when John and Alex hop on the train at Menton-Garavan and find themselves in Sanremo for a Serie D clash between high-flying Sanramese and relegation-threatened Asti. The home side had the ball fizzing about, the referee's decisions coruscated in the Mediterranean sun, and the visitors kicked lumps out of everyone. Bizarrely, though, it was Sanramese who were a man down at...

It’s John’s birthday, and how better to celebrate it than by nipping along the Riviera coast from Menton to watch Monaco V Paris St Germain? Most observers had PSG down for a routine win, and no wonder, given a 15-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 going into this game. But John and Alex have not been roaming the Med, watching football, for nothing. Uncannily, they predicated a rousing, sensational...

It's a journey to the belly of the beast for John and Alex, as they join Les Nicois in the Populaire Sud for Nice v Paris St Germain. It's loud. It's raucous. It's intense. It's everything that a beast's belly should be. It's also a game of two halves, the first of which was engaging and brimful of tidy touches by Lionel Messi, while the second was so dull that the intrepid duo left before the fin...

The jinxed Allianz Riviera loomed large for Nice v Versailles in the semi-final of the Coupe de France - but would Alex and John make it? If they did, would they be in time for kick-off? Would they finally meet Mefi the Eagle? The intrepid duo achieved two of their three goals for a pulsating game which the home side won 2-0, thanks to goals by the outstanding Amine Gouri and Kasper Dolberg. Versa...

Marseille v Brest... Genoa v Sampdoria... Monaco v Marseille... Barcelona v Real Madrid... Great atmospheres, all, but Footy on the Med's trip to the RCDE Stadium yielded the best yet. What a game. What a sound. What passion and energy. John and Alex couldn't believe their luck in being present for Espanyol's home game v arch-rivals Barcelona. The minnows put on a fantastic performance and all but...

Spare a thought for Villefranche SJB. John and Alex did, after witnessing The Team with the Amazing No. 10 (27-year-old Elyes Ayeche) collapse in an away game to local rivals, AS Cannes. Ayeche wasn't playing and he was sorely missed, though the final score - 5-0 - was perhaps a little flattering to the hosts. This was a curious outing for FootyontheMed: for once, John and Alex were early, but the...

John and Alex go posh: yes, it's a trip to the old money football mecca of Cap Ferrat for the clash between Villefranche Saint-Jean Beaulieu and Rousset Ste Victoire. The visitors return to Provence with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sofiane Sidi Ali, but in Elyes Ayeche, Villefranche's no. 10, Footy on the Med encounters a prodigious, but baffling, talent. With an exquisite touch, strength and pa...

With their highly developed, unparalleled detective skills, it was only a matter of time before John and Alex unearthed the gem on their doorstep. Yes, that’s right: at last they realised that Menton, their hometown, has a football club. Rapid Omnisports de Menton, to be precise. The fearless duo made the short walk from their homes for Menton’s home game v Cagnes-les-Cros. Families and friends ca...

It's the first game of the new year and, deprived of live football for four weeks, John and Alex are excited. Better yet, this game - Nice v Nantes at the Allianz Riviera stadium - is just down the road from their Menton base. Last time they were there, they were only half there (they missed the first half). This time, aided by Paddy 'Dr Patrick' Kennedy and Luciano the Chef (who's also an Archite...

Footy on the Med goes home. Well, to its home from home - the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. This is John and Alex's third trip to Genoa and this time it's for the Derby della Lanterna, as Il Grifone take on arch-rivals Sampdoria. There's a lot at stake, with Genoa anchored in Serie A's drop-zone and Sampdoria looking for a win to take them to mid-table security. This is a game about tradition and local p...

It's a first in the recent history of Footy on the Med: John and Alex arrive at a game before kick-off. This small but significant success was due not to a new-found badge of organisational excellence but a simple fact: The Navigator was back in town. Thanks to The Navigator's eponymous skills, there was even time for pizza at Un Jardin de Ville before slick-passing, high-flying Marseille took on...

Can you watch three European games in three successive days? If one of them is Monaco v Real Sociedad, will you be given the secret to making perfecto spaghetti carbonara? Why is Monaco's motto - 'Rise. Risk. Repeat' - in English, not French? John and Alex head to the Stade Louis II for a Group B Europa League clash between high-flying Monaco and second-placed Real Sociedad, not expecting to encou...

Footy on the Med goes (slightly) inland: John and Alex find themselves 35 miles from the Mediterranean Sea to watch a Ligue 2 clash between Nimes and Quevilly-Rouen. The seeds for their geographical misfire were sown in the Nice v Montpellier game of one half, when Alex, put on the spot by John, declared: "Yes, Nimes is on the Med." Alas, despite their scaling the immaculate Roman amphitheatre in...

Selfishly, John continues his family holiday and can't make it to the small matter of El Clasico. Fearlessly, Alex takes the plunge and forces himself to venture alone to Camp Nou. Selflessly, Producer Fred, Alex's mate from Saturday footy back in London - now living in Barcelona - provides enlightenment: "It's pronounced the 'now' camp, not the 'nu' camp," he declares. "Well, come along then!" sa...

It's Nice v Montpellier, 5pm on a Sunday afternoon. A game just down the road from Menton. "Not too far to travel," says Alex. "Speak for yourself," says John, "I'll have just taken my folks back home. I land at Nice airport at 4.10pm." Ever the optimist, Alex drives to Nice airport to pick up John. He waits. And he waits. John's plane is late, and then suffers from a lack of stairs. There's nothi...

Is the word 'ciao' emblematic of an inherent ambiguity in Italian culture? Is Genoa really the city of 'beautiful confusion'? Is 'que sera' the only viable answer to what the song Que Sera means? And if Monaco lose at home to Marseille, and yet the away fans outnumber those at home by 500-1, is it actually a home fixture? Who's at home, and who's away, and what is home, if it's away? In this mash-...

It's a trip to the far south of France for Alex, but sans John, whose family are in town. How will Alex fare without his pod partner at the Stade de la Mosson, the home of Montpellier HSC, as La Paillade take on high-flying Lens? Very well, it turns out, thanks to a superb game of football featuring a titanic battle between to two players, Téji Savanier for the home side and Seko Fofana for the vi...

Two expats abroad, nipping along the Italian Riviera from Menton to the pretty town of Sanremo on a baking hot Wednesday afternoon - what could go wrong? Nothing, really, except for the fearsome feelings of some of the Sanremo faithful at the end of a Serie D clash at home to Casale. The home side had hung on tenaciously for most of the second half despite being down to ten men, with their absurdl...

John and Alex leave their base - the French town of Menton - and hop on a train to Genoa, Italy. There they meet Alex the Navigator and, with him and a couple of his mates, enjoy a beer or two before a wonderful game of Serie A football - Sampdoria 3, Udinese 3. Fast, open and skilful, the game produces an early contender for Goal of the Season (anywhere) by veteran Samp player Antonio Candreva. "...