Ushered by Bernhard away from the sponsors seating area, we were now heading towards the inner sanctum of the Allianz Arena.
Heading through a heavy door, we were soon in a corridor that was bedecked with rather large pictures of current Bayern stars, pictures of a similar size and stature to those that Chelsea have along the rear wall of the now long gone original Shed End. Naturally, one that immediately took my attention was that of Arjen Robben, a former favourite of mine during his Chelsea days.
Soon we were being ushered through another door and into a vast, sloping room that was, so Bernhard informed us, the Press Room. Although similar in size to that of Stamford Bridge, I have to admit that the facilities looked a little plusher. The huge table that Pep Guardiola will soon be addressing the press from; resembled one of those you see at a Boxing promotion where its length is sufficient to accommodate both entourages.
Continuing our tour, we were soon weaving our way towards the dressing rooms. Seemingly the Allianz Arena has four, one for Bayern, one for 1860, a neutral one and another where the German national team, if they`re playing at the Allianz, hide out.
Walking into the Bayern dressing room, although Bernhard tried his best to talk up the surroundings, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed compared to those I`d viewed at Stamford Bridge.
For a start there were no replica shirts hanging up in the separate alcoves, plus there were no facilities, like at Stamford Bridge, whereby the players are able to lock away their personal items in a cabinet into which perfumed aromas are pumped.
In the Allianz, the players are afforded the luxury of a huge photo above their changing stations but the area looked small, probably because the massage tables, treatment rooms and washing facilities are located along the corridor in separate rooms.
But, one feature that was impressive was that the area had a couple of television screens which were linked to the media room and able to play, at the managers instruction, snippets of play from the first half to highlight passages of play whereby he thought the team should have done better. I couldn`t help thinking that any such facility might just be over-worked if in use at Stamford Bridge during our current predicament.
Exiting the Bayern dressing room we were taken to an area described as a warm up facility, somewhere the players could stretch their limbs if the weather outside was too inclement to venture out before we were ushered into the dressing room which the national side would use during their tenure at the stadium.
All in all, I felt that if the stadium itself was superior to Stamford Bridge and up there with the best in the world, the dressing rooms were a mish-mash of rooms that were not on a par with those at Stamford Bridge.
Join us tomorrow for Part 6 and the culmination of the Allianz Arena tour.
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