Cheering on Liverpool at Champions League finals was the height of Tom Grivosti’s European experience - until this summer.
Now, as St Pat’s take a slender lead into tonight’s clash with CSKA Sofia, the Scouser can say he has been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
And it has been quite the adventure for the former Bolton Wanderers and Ross County centre-back.
Away to NS Mura in Slovenia, he stepped up to take what he hoped would be the fifth and final penalty to win a tense shootout.
But his shot was saved and what felt like the longest sudden death period ensued, with the Saints coming out on top.
Then last week, St Pat’s stunned CSKA 1-0 in the Bulgarian capital before getting stranded after two charter flights home were cancelled.
The club had to scramble scheduled flights for players in various dribs and drabs, with Grivosti flying back to Dublin with Chris Forrester from Stansted.
Others flew out of Heathrow, with players only arriving back in Dublin between 6.00am and 6.00pm on Sunday - the day they were supposed to play Shelbourne.
“It was all kinds of carnage,” said Grivosti after Saints training at Tallaght Stadium last night.
In Sofia a week ago, some St Pat’s fans were attacked after the game and the team were under police orders to stay in their hotel for the duration of their additional stay.
“Police were literally parked outside the hotel,” said Saints technical director Alan Mathews.
“There were two police cars outside the hotel all the time and when we went out they said 'where are you going?'.
Shels could yet look for a walkover but Mathews continued: “My view is that we were in a situation in Bulgaria whereby we weren’t able to come home.
“The FAI are conducting a review of the whole thing and their findings will be made public in due course and we’ll see where it ends up.
“Ultimately, it’s out of our control, out of my control, out of the team's control as to the events that occurred over the weekend.”
But for all the thrills and spills, Grivosti is relishing this first-hand experience of European football having watched from the Anfield terraces and beyond up to now.
Back in May, he was in Paris for the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid when all sorts of ticketing chaos outside the Stade de France marred the build-up.
Grivosti said last night: “I wouldn’t go back to Paris. It wasn't great. Not before the game but after the game we had a bit of trouble getting out.
“Before the game it was much worse but I was inside the ground.
“I was at the one in Madrid when we won against Tottenham and I was at the Olympaikos game when Gerrard scored.
“I haven't got to many because I was living in the Highlands in Scotland, I just get to finals nowadays!.”
St Pat’s don’t have quite the same realistic and lofty European ambitions as Liverpool, but they lead CSKA by a goal.
“After the first-leg, you enjoy it but you realise it’s only half a job. It means nothing if we go out tonight,” added Grivosti.
“Hopefully we can finish the job and then you can look back at that night and think what a result we got.
“Defensively, if we perform anywhere near what we did last week, we'll give ourselves a great chance.”
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