RED BULL SALZBURG (Red Bull Arena)

BUNDESLIGA, RED BULL SALZBURG 2-2 SV RIED, ATTENDANCE: 5,870

After a few late night drinks in Munich, Saturday morning arrived with surprisingly clear heads. Today was supposed to be a cheeky double header, but we decided to ditch the 1st game, which was Rosenheim v Ismaning (the homesters won 1-0 for the record) and head straight to Salzburg.

Salzburg is a world renowned cultural city being a UNESCO heritage site, the birthplace of Mozart and home to stunning baroque architecture. Naturally, we eschewed this and headed straight to a sports bar to watch Everton beat Manchester City (why couldn't the Blues perform like that against Wigan seven days earlier?) before having a stroll along the river Salzach.

This was to catch a bus to The Red Bull Arena, which is out of town, and the bus is laid on free. On this bus a local questioned our sanity and said we are rather sad coming all this way to watch Salzburg. He said to be prepared for a rather low standard game. I smiled to myself as if only he knew some of the low standard crap we've watched over the years!

Founded in 1933, SV Austria Salzburg were bought by Red Bull in 2005 who renamed the club and changed their colours to red and white, from their traditional violet and white. They also claimed this was a new club with no history, despite the club being around for 72 years and winning Bundesliga titles!

This obviously upset quite a lot of fans who then set up their own SV Austria Salzburg club. When we went to bar post-match these events were pointed out to us in no certain terms by some fans of the breakaway club. They were making comparisons to Wimbledon/Milton Keynes but whatever the rights and wrongs, it, sadly, all boils down to cold hard cash and if the clubs hierarchy were willing to sell their soul, then you pays your money....

Anyhow, the game wasn't bad and it was an entertaining draw, with Die Roten Bullen coming from behind twice. Marco Melliner (22) gave Ried the lead before Jonathan Soriano Casas (42) equalised.

Melliner (52) bagged his second before Martin Hinteregger (81) grabbed a point for the hosts.

The Wals-Siezenheim is a fine example of a modern stadium, having been upgraded for the 2008 Euros which were hosted jointly by Austria and Switzerland.

Post match it was off to the Augustiner Brauerei Mülln where their strong ale helped numb the pain after a rather theatrical dive in the car park by my good self, the row of local polizei seeming rather non-plussed and my pals laughing their heads off!