I caught the lift up to the 6th floor and quickly got rid of my baggage - when I say quickly, I couldn't have done it any faster if I was a Mexican drug runner trying to get away from trigger-happy federales in the Tijuana valley! I took the lift back down but Bruno was nowhere to be seen. Damn! So I took a seat in the bar area where there was a TV showing some American basketball highlights, and I pretended to watch it while players and officials made their way into the restaurant for dinner. Some more players came down and then Mexes walked by me - the TV was on a stand about five feet high, and as he passed Mexes ducked so I wouldn't miss the action in the basketball! Like I cared about THAT! But I thought it was a very polite thing for a millionaire footballer to do. 

I was still playing it cool, pretending not to be in awe, waiting for Conti to return. Some more players walked by - Abel Xavier's hair was hard not to notice - and then Ezio Sella and Rosella Sensi walked by. Then Cassano appeared and had a bit of an argument with Sella - he was speaking so fast I could not understand any of what he said but the word "fenomeno" came up about four or five times, and a "vaffanculo". I don't know what was going on but if I had to guess I'd say Sella might have called Cassano "Fenomeno" in jest and he reacted angrily to it. Still, it was quite something to be sitting two metres away from an Antonio Cassano temper tantrum!

Then Conti arrived so I made my move. I asked him if it would be possible to get a photo together, explaining that I am a New Zealander but a very big Roma fan. He was very polite and friendly, and as I was on my own Ezio Sella offered to take the photo! They both smiled when I took out my Roma Club Testaccio scarf for the photo, and Sella took it, looked at the display and said "perfetto". I couldn't have put it better myself! I wished them good luck for the game the next day and went out to explore Bergamo, grinning like a fool.

A few hours' walking and a few beers later (Bergamo is a beautiful place!) I went back to the hotel but only the Roma security guy was there, giving me a suspicious look. It was weird to think I was staying in the same hotel as these millionaires (no Roma player would be seen dead in the one-star shared bathroom dives I usually stay in!) and I couldn't help laughing at how good the omen in Franco's cafe had been. I was beginning to get a very good felling about the game against Atalanta. . . .

I got up in time for breakfast and decided to explore Bergamo by daylight. Although it was quite weird passing Vincenzo Montella on the way out of the restaurant! I felt like maybe I should have waited and got some more photos and autographs, but I know I don't like being hassled over breakfast - and besides, they had an important game that day! I walked around the citta alta for a while (highly recommended) and the sun came out. It was a beautiful day. I couldn't resist the temptation to go back to the hotel and see what was happening, though, so I went to my room, freshened up, and went downstairs. Amantino was sitting on the couch so I asked him for a photo and one of his friends took it. Then I saw my favourite Roma player, Tommasi, sitting down in normal clothes reading a book (all the other players were wearing training tops). I ordered a beer from the bar and put it on my room tab to reassure the waiter that I was not some kind of nutter off the street (well, that's open to debate) and asked Tommasi for a photo, and the waiter took it. I asked him if he had recovered and he said "quasi". I finished my beer and headed out to the bus station to find out how to get to the stadium - but then I realised I had no sunscreen. You don't get to see much of the sun in Scotland so I figured I had better get something to protect myself from the Bergamo rays - but everything was closed! In the end I think I got more sunburnt walking around looking for sunscreen than I did at the stadium.

I followed some Atalanta fans (one wearing a Caniggia strip, I had forgotten he played there) and got on the bus. The main bar in a parking lot outside the stadium didn't sell beer on match days, but about 200 yards away there was a nice cafe selling Beck's. I went in for a couple of beers as it was only 2 o'clock (Strictly to avoid exposure to the sun, you understand!) and got talking in my caveman Italian to a Bergamo fan in his 50s. He was very philosophical about his team's chances, saying that a lot of kids like to get drunk and take drugs and go crazy at games, but people like him just go for a quiet day watching good football. He was a nice guy.

I got a ticket for the main stand but had no problem at all walking by the carabinieri and getting into the settore ospiti. It was small, I guess maybe a thousand Roma fans, but it was colourful. I went up the top of the stand and saw la vecchia signora - not that piece of sh!t team from Torino, but a lady from Unione Tifosi Romanisti who must be in her late 60s early 70s. I have seen here before at some away games - I told her I had seen here at the Como v Roma game in Piacenza a couple of seasons ago. She got some stickers out of her bag and gave them to me - small gifts, but ones I shall treasure. She's a true supporter, semprepresente! 

There were a few guys throwing water bottles and things into the Atalanta end - the police had made everyone take the caps off the water bottles so they could not be thrown, but some of the ultras were getting the tape off the plastic barriers where banners had been hung up previously, and using the tape to seal the bottles so they could fling them further. It was a good atmosphere though, and people were in the mood to celebrate la salvezza.

The first half was pretty evenly balanced, and Mexes was playing really well. I said some bad things about him in the past but now I think he might actually be worth all the money he cost us and the trouble he has caused. He can attack as well - he went on one great run up the right, all of 60 metres, making fools of four or five defenders, but Cassano couldn't finish off the move.

Cassano's goal of course sparked wild scenes of celebration in the away end, and chants of "Serie B" to the Bergamaschi, but Atalanta were creating some decent chances up the other end. Again Curci proved his class. Montella went clean through and should have done better, and there were a couple of very good chances for us . . . but strangely it wasn't frustrating, it really seemed as if the one goal would be enough. Normally I would be nervous as hell with Atalanta putting some dangerous moves together, but for some reason I felt no fear. Even when Cassano came off and Aqualini went on, the Scurto for Mexes when he was playing so well, even when Abel goddamn Xavier appeared, I was not nervous. It just felt like we could not be beaten and it was Atalanta's fate to go down.

After the game finished we were kept waiting inside the ground for an hour - apparently the buses to take the fans back to the station were held up on the autostrada. I tried to get out, explaining that I was a New Zealander on holiday and I had a hotel in Bergamo, but the carabinieri looked at me like I was mad. I the end I got out and headed for la citta alta, after about as perfect a weekend as any Roma fan could wish for.