jenni_blog | Reading

Flew to Palma de Mallorca on Thursday for the Lionesses match. No problems with the flight out. Despite having been fingerprinted in Reykjavik, I had to have my prints done again on an automatic self-service screen at passport control. Call me a Luddite, but I prefer having my passport checked by a human. Hotel a short taxi ride away. Spent Thursday evening and Friday daytime mooching around the hotel and watching stuff on YouTube. Excellent food in the hotel restaurant - patatas bravas and a Greek salad on Thursday evening. Majorcan breakfast on Friday morning, toasted baguette spread with a honey-based paste over toasted sliced cold meat, very tasty.

I didn’t go to the gathering as it was some way out of my way and would have left us with a 45 minute walk to the ground, plus I’m on a tight budget, and I was waiting to hear from the Portchester Ladies Reserves lot who’d said in the morning they’d message later (they didn’t). Padding around the hotel until early evening, staying away from the tourist traps, suited me fine.

On the bus to the stadium there were a couple in England shirts - they replied to my ‘hello’ but otherwise kept themselves to themselves. Getting off at the Son Moix bus stop I followed them, and some people in Spain kits, thinking they’d lead me to the ground - but they all went into a Lidl. Asking the English couple if the ground was this way, they said they’d come into the Lidl to buy water.

Finally I found the ground. A mass of England fans were being held at a barrier put up on the pavement by the Guardia. I found Leanne near the front, went up and said hello. She went tootling off somewhere before they let us in. The team coaches pulled down the little side road between the barricades holding us, and into the car park. A big cheer went up to greet them.

I wandered around for a while looking for a food or drink stall, but nada. When I got back to the away entrance they were letting people in. One security man frisked me, another waved his wand around me, I got the all clear. Climbed two flights of stairs to get to the away fans’ section which was in the upper tier.

The food stall wasn’t selling at first because of a technical hitch with the computerised ordering screens. Eventually the kiosk lady just let us tell her what we wanted to her face and sold it in the old-fashioned way. There wasn’t a lot on offer, though - I had to make do with a little baguette, a packet of nuts and a bottle of water.

I scanned the away end for anyone I knew. Spotted Ash fairly soon and we chatted a bit about our respective seasons. Next I met Lindsey who was wearing a ‘happy birthday’ bonnet and a badge saying ‘happy birthday’ in Spanish. I wished her many happy returns and we hugged, kissed and talked a while. Gary, who sometimes comes to Atlético games, came up to me for a catch-up and asked after Jo.

It was 15 to 20 minutes before kick-off when Leanne finally appeared. I asked where she’d got to and she said security was a nightmare. Rachel showed up soon after and made straight for the Ladies. We said our hellos with a hug and a kiss when she came out. With still no sign of the Portchester girls I headed for my seat, high up.

The game…Spain were different class and England were never in it. As Claire posted on the Messenger group, our defence had the consistency of wet tissue paper. By half time Spain were two up.

At the break I wandered around the away end looking for the Portchester crowd. As I plodded down the staircase I heard a voice calling me. It was Lisa. She was on the staircase two blocks away.

I carried on down to the bottom. Lisa, Charley, Kalli, Jess and Roxy came down and met me there. Roxy said to me “well done on keeping a secret” - as I’d known since April, this was her hen do, and she’d only known they were going to Magaluf. It was that morning at Gatwick that they’d surprised her with an England shirt and revealed that they had tickets for the match. They got me to pose for a photo with them and we talked till the teams came back out.

England fared no better after the break. Spain added a third early on. Later they brought on triple Ballon D’Or winner Aitana Bonmati and the amazing Claudia Pina. What chance did we have against a team that can keep players like them on the subs’ bench? Sure enough, Pina got on the end of a ball from Bonmati, jinked through the England defence and struck home a fourth.

The final whistle went on the Lionesses’ worst result for 17 years. I, like most of the away end, headed straight for the exit and out of the ground to where the special buses waited. The one I got on was almost all England fans (there was one Spanish couple). “This is the commiseration bus”, the guy behind me said. We were all in a state of shell shock. One fan bravely suggested that Iceland might do us a favour and deny Spain victory on Tuesday, but no-one thought that was an option. We all knew we’re facing the play-offs.

We thought the bus was going ‘fast’ to Plaza España, which for me would have meant a 20 minute walk back to my hotel. I looked out wistfully as the bus actually flew past the hotel. Fortunately, it did a stop a couple of minutes later. Even more welcome, there was a kebab shop, ‘Mesopotamia’, on the short walk back. Had my excellent kebab back in the room and watched some classic comedy shows on YouTube.

At Palma airport yesterday, found a cafe that sold tasty ‘healthy baguettes’ - and a San Miguel Radler beer, just the ticket. Met Helen as I was walking to my boarding gate. She was flying back to Manchester and was surprisingly chipper. She said she’d be at the game in Liverpool on Tuesday and looked forward to seeing me there.

The plane to Bournemouth was delayed. According to the Ryanair app it was because “the aircraft has changed”. We were an hour late taking off in the end. Landed at 4.20 pm. Stood in a snake at the UK Border but not too slow-moving. Through to baggage reclaim - not long before mine showed up.

Ho hum.