Sat in my armchair, far away from the pulsating atmosphere in Sofia, I must admit I admired the manner in which Sofia staged the game.
The Fulham faithful, who had travelled to Sofia, appeared to be well looked after and despite the partisan crowd, there appeared to be no attempt by the locals to get at those who had travelled. In fact the few brief glimpses we saw of those that travelled gave the impression that they could have been watching another game, chalk and cheese when it came to noise.
But, after the obligatory few dives and harsh reactions to crunching tackles had been eradicated, you began to sense that there was a kind of mutual respect between the two clubs, respect that saw the CSKA boss, Luboslav Penev, pay us a few compliments during his post match interview, when he remarked,
“Fulham are a good team. Hey were well organized and did not come here to defend and deserved their point.”
“They played a different side to what they do in the Premier League. They are more focused on England.”
Here`s hoping that the spirit shown last night becomes common place in a competition that needs to be a success if there is to be a European alternative t the over-hyped Champions League!
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