TUESDAY
11am, Liverpool: As always, John Lennon Airport is where this journey begins. We arrive at the terminal and will be accompanied by some LFC royalty for this trip in the form of John Aldridge and Gary McAllister. They head through security and board the plane. Potential stars of tomorrow quickly follow them through.
Indeed, the Reds’ U19s side, led by Rob Page, are looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the UEFA Youth League when they also meet Eintracht on Wednesday afternoon (you can watch that game live on All Red Video).
12pm, Liverpool: Wheels up and away we go. My in-flight entertainment consists of catching up on the Monday Night Football double-header in the NFL, while LFCTV’s Mark Benstead has brought along Robbie Fowler’s autobiography and gets stuck into that.
2.45pm, Frankfurt: The 90-minute journey – pardon the pun – flies by as the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks handle their business. There’s a first sighting of tomorrow’s venue, Deutsche Bank Park, in the final stages of the descent and it looks very impressive.
When we get to the hotel, equally as eye-catching is my view of the city from the room. My very basic pre-trip research informed me that the city is often called ‘Mainhattan’, in a nod to both the River Main and the Manhattan-like skyline here. It should look even better when dark later on.
