Day 8

"The city of Liverpool, home of the Beatles, Albert Dock, and the two best teams in the world: Liverpool FC and Liverpool reserves!"

All joking aside, following another cracking early training session, we visited Liverpool this afternoon in more very enjoyable sunny weather and stopped to see firstly Goodison Park, home of the blue side of the city's club, Everton. We then ventured across Stanley park to Anfield, the home of Liverpool Football Club. The rivalry between these close neighbors certainly is up there with our previous experience of Arsenal and Spurs. Many would argue that the rivalry is even more intense given their proximity and the close knit nature of the city.

Following the stadium trips we headed on down to the Liverpool docks to do a touch of sightseeing. Liverpool was the European city of culture as recently as 2008 so expectedly there were many intriguing landmarks to see as the guys took in some fresh Irish Sea air.

This evening was many of the groups long awaited chance to see a live game at Old Trafford as Manchester United concluded their pre season schedule against perennial Champions League participants, Valencia of Spain. I must admit (reluctantly) that the stadium is certainly one of the more famous venues in world football. It has been host to countless massive games over the years including a champions league final. It is the biggest club stadium in Britain, capable of accommodating well over 75.000 supporters. The traditions however remain the same. Some of the greats to have pulled on the famous red jersey include Bobby Charlton, George Best, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Tonight the current squad still boasts some serious star power including Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata. Our short walk to the stadium from the hotel allowed us to soak in the pre game atmosphere and sample some traditional footy grub. 

Once again we were treated to spectacular seats only 4 rows from the Old Trafford pitch. United dominated early proceedings but it wasn't til early in the second half that Darren Fletcher gave the Red Devils the lead. Many of us missed the goal as the crowd acknowledged star man van Persie as he took his seat just a few rows behind us. The goal seemed to galvanize the Spaniards as they enjoyed easily their best spell of the game which culminated in a stunning equalizer with about 20 minutes to go. 

It was at this point that van Gaal introduced giant Belgian international Marouane Fellaini to the fray. At first, it seemed that Fellaini and his Afro were just a simple source of entertainment as his every touch was cheered relentlessly. However, as the game seemed destined for a draw, the ball was launched towards Fellaini and following an aerial battle, the big man tapped into an empty net and euphoria ensued. 

It turned out to be the last kick of the game. We were fortunate enough to see yet another highly entertaining game and the guys had the time of their lives. Can't do any better than that. Finally, today's winner of the selfie challenge was first time snapper, our very own mascot Spirit at the game!