Match ticket price: 12 lev, Visa card acceptable. A taxi to the ground: 15 lev, forget Visa card. Hotel “Anel”, ca. 100 Euros, it was not clear for the receptionist, if Visa could be accepted or not. To leave the Levski stadium with no injury after the derby match: priceless.

The Bulgarian police had greatly contributed to the above achievement: equipped with several combat vehicles, the troops had literarily pushed the CSKA fans out of the venue. Paradoxically, it only added verve to the CSKA team who, deprived of on-site doping, managed to secure a very valuable win over the local rivals on their own ground. Still prior to kick off, stones had been thrown and flares had been fired towards our (theoretically “neutral”) sector by the guest fans however this should be considered a sort of a joke – after all we did not physically suffer hence the intentions were not necessarily vicious and any heavy protest against the CSKA fans’ behavior would have been nothing else but petty.