The beers are on Munich

Conversations naturally turn to steins in Munich and at the home of their faves Bayern Munchen who are the talk of football this week.

Because of their stop the traffic 8-2 trouncing of the lauded Barcelona in the Champions League.

The Stein I had in mind back in the day in the mid-Eighties as we watched Bayen beat Nuremberg 1-0 was Jock Stein.

The storied Top Deck beer bus

And a rather circuitous conversation played itself out as I tried to educate Hans about the Scotland manager Jock Stein.

Drink up!

I squeezed a couple of litre steins, one a big glass one, another a decorative one, into my backpack which have pride of place in my cabinet.

Who had died of a heart attack in a Cardiff dugout just weeks before.

Stocking up at the airport

Football and drink haven’t always been good bedfellows but Bayern embrace Munich’s beer and Oktoberfest links.

And you can see evidence in Munich Airport where branded steins and beer packs are on sale in their shops.

And where check-out staff don lederhosens.

Although not the ticket office where Stern Frau is the order of the day although I shouldn’t complain.

As she did organise a new ticket for me after I had gone to the wrong gate and missed my flight to Athens.

In Barcelona, of course, they say it is mes que un club, more than a club.

And Leonardo Messi has as much prominence, if not more, than Christopher Columbus who dominates the entrance to La Ramblas.

What happens next for the Argentine magician… and dare we think the unthinkable that next season he’ll be in a different shirt.

A final word now on the football… the mini-World Cup format of the COVID-19 Champions League is proving a roaring success.

In fact the best European Cup since Celtic became the first British team to lift the trophy in 1967 with a team drawn all from the West of Scotland.

When Jock Stein was their manager.

It is a spiritual experience for Celtic supporters and they often double it up with a trip to see Our Lady in Fatima to give thanks.