The block across from us – full of guests of the potato chip brand Lay’s – all had their phones ready to capture the big moment. Manchester City had just defeated Internazionale to become European champions and win the treble. Fans around us cried and hugged as Ilkay Gündogan walked up to lift his third trophy in a month. This was the endpoint of a wild journey for the team that I’ve been watching since my first match in 1992. It was, as a football fan, as good as it could ever possibly get, but almost all I could think about was: how the hell can I get some water?
In an attempt to keep the rival fans apart, beat Istanbul’s impressively stubborn traffic and get everyone to their seats in time, Uefa had insisted that City’s fans start heading to the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, in the far north-west of the city, from as early as 1pm. They were instructed to gather outside a grim “fan park” on the city’s south coast to catch a supposed hour’s shuttle bus to the ground.
