Martin Tyler recalls commentating under a giant flag and a Champions League final across two days...
Friday 15 May 2020 07:35, UK
At a time when football grounds have closed their doors, we've asked Martin Tyler to share some of his favourite facts and memories of the homes of clubs around the world.
This week, Sky Sports' Voice of Football is looking at some grounds across Europe. Today, he takes us on a trip to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow...
Keep an eye on The Football Show on Sky Sports News and @SkySportsPL for some special Tyler's Teasers from Martin.
There are a number of Moscow airports and when I started commentating, long taxi rides were the usual way of reaching the city centre. Nowadays, high-speed trains can whisk you there in less than 45 minutes.
The stadium itself is also splendidly served by the metro and at all the World Cup games in 2018, the ease of access and exiting was remarkable.
I have commentated from at least four different positions in the ground, one of them by the 100 metres finishing line beside the 1980 Olympic athletics track, way off centre. Another was very high right at the top of the main stand.
The upgrading of the ground for the World Cup meant the facilities were the best possible in such a large arena, part of a very successful tournament for Russia.
Emirates Stadium | Villa Park | Vitality Stadium | Amex Stadium | Turf Moor | Stamford Bridge | Selhurst Park | Goodison Park | King Power Stadium | Anfield | Etihad Stadium | Old Trafford | St James' Park | Carrow Road | Bramall Lane | St Mary's | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | Vicarage Road | London Stadium | Molineux
It was opened in 1956 and was known as the Lenin stadium until 1992, including 1980 when it was the central point of the Olympic Games. In 2013 a complete rebuild on the same site was started for the 2018 World Cup.
Undoubtedly my strangest memory of this stadium was as the teams of Russia and England walked out for a European Championship Qualifier in October 2007.
In order to secure extra revenue from the advertising boards, the Moscow organisers had switched my co-commentator David Platt and myself to the opposite side of the stadium to the players tunnel. It was a temporary position created just for this game, right in the midst of thousands of home fans.
Those fans had brought with them a huge flag which they unfurled from the top of the stand as the teams emerged, the point at which the presenter of our coverage throws over to the commentator. I had just started to speak when the momentum of the flag took it over our heads and totally shut out the light, except for the pictures on the monitors in front of us.
Fortunately, the sound kept going and I managed to stammer out a few words which led into the national anthems. I was then wondering whether I would have to commentate the whole game in this dark cocoon, watching the action only on the screens and never seeing a ball kicked with my naked eyes.
Eventually after maybe not as a long a time as it seemed, the biggest Red Flag in Moscow that night was removed and we were back to normal. It was certainly before Wayne Rooney made light of the artificial surface to give Steve McClaren's side the lead. Dare I say England flagged in the second half. Roman Pavlyuchenko, came on as a substitute and scored twice, and earned a subsequent move to Spurs.
Midnight in Moscow was a hit instrumental for Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen in 1962 but the title had been recalled when it was decided that the Champions League Final of 2008 featuring Manchester United and Chelsea would kick off at 22.45 local time.
Like all the commentators I could not resist the expression as the hour arrived. The game started on a Saturday and finished on a Sunday!
A more recent recollection is of the World Cup in 2018 and the epic semi-final which England eventually lost to Croatia. I felt both delight at the achievement of Gareth Southgate and his squad and dismay that it would be Croatia coming back to the Luzhniki for the Final.
By a remarkable coincidence, the first person I spoke to after England's defeat was the very same person I had rather more accidentally bumped into at the very end of England's previous World Cup semi-final 28 years earlier. Then he was an England player waiting to do the end-of-match drugs test. Now he was reflecting on his radio analysis on his semi-final successors. The one and only Stuart Pearce!
I have been going there off and on for 40 years. There has always been a mystery about Moscow to me. The football in the Luzhniki Stadium has usually been the reason for my travel to Russia and I am very grateful for that.
