The 2010 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the
2009–10 Football League Cup
The 2009–10 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by lager brand Carling) was the 50th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English f ...
, the 50th season of the
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
, a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
competition for the 92 teams in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
and
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. The match, played at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
on 28 February 2010, was won by
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, who beat
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
2–1. Aston Villa took the lead in the fifth minute of the game, via a
James Milner
James Philip Milner (born 4 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool. A versatile player, Milner has played in multiple positions, including on the wing, in midfield and at full-back.
...
penalty kick
A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
, but
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...
equalised for Manchester United seven minutes later.
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...
, who replaced the injured Owen shortly before half time, scored the winning goal with 16 minutes left to play.
Manchester United went into the match as defending champions, having beaten
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
on penalties in the 2009 final. The win gave them their fourth Football League Cup title, their third in five years and their second in succession, becoming the first team to retain the trophy since
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
. It was the first time Manchester United successfully defended a major cup, having been losing finalists as title holders in the
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
FA Cup, and the
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
Champions League finals. Since Manchester United qualified for the
2010–11 UEFA Champions League
The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, where Bar ...
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
which would have been given to the winners of the League Cup was instead given to Villa, since they finished in sixth place in the
2009–10 Premier League
The 2009–10 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. A total of 20 teams competed in the league, with Chelsea unseating the three ...
.
Background
Out of the 173 previous meetings between the two sides, Manchester United had won 87 and Aston Villa had won 49, with the remaining 37 games finishing as draws; however, Villa's record in the League Cup against United was markedly better, with four wins in six matches between them. United's only League Cup win over Aston Villa came in October 1975, when they won 2–1 at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...
in the third round. The only previous meeting between the two teams in the final of the competition came in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, when Villa won 3–1 and United winger
Andrei Kanchelskis
Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis ( uk, Андрій Антанасович Канчельскіс; russian: Андрей Антанасович Канчельскис; born 23 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player. He ...
became the first player to be sent off in a League Cup final.
Aston Villa hold the advantage over Manchester United in the league matches between the two sides in 2009–10, having beaten the Premier League champions 1–0 at
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
in December and holding them to a 1–1 draw at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...
three weeks before the League Cup final.
Both Manchester United and Aston Villa had played in seven Football League Cup finals, but Manchester United had only won three compared to Villa's five. United's most recent victory, however, came in
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
– when they beat Tottenham Hotspur on
penalties
Penalty or The Penalty may refer to:
Sports
* Penalty (golf)
* Penalty (gridiron football)
* Penalty (ice hockey)
* Penalty (rugby)
* Penalty (rugby union)
* Penalty kick (association football)
* Penalty shoot-out (association football)
* Penalty ...
– whereas Villa's last League Cup title came in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, when they beat
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
3–0. Manchester United went into the match looking to become the first team to retain the League Cup since Nottingham Forest in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
.
Road to Wembley
Pre-match
Ticketing
Since 2008, the final of the Football League Cup has been played at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
in London. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000 spectators, and each team received an allocation of 31,750 tickets for their supporters. Both clubs chose to limit their initial applications to season ticket holders, with priority given to those supporters who had attended more cup games up to that point in the season.
Match ball
The match ball for the 2010 League Cup final is a variation of the Mitre Revolve ball used by
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. The ball is white and patterned with black with gold trim. 150 balls were produced for the two teams to train with prior to the final, each of which is stamped with a unique identifying number and the date of the match. The ball also features a special logo that reads "FIFTY" – in recognition of the 50th season of the League Cup – where the letter I is replaced by an image of the League Cup trophy.
Officials
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
-based referee
Phil Dowd
Philip Dowd (born 26 January 1963) : The 2006 FA Cup Final
The 2006 FA Cup Final was a football match played between Liverpool and West Ham United on 13 May 2006 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2005–06 FA Cup, the 125th season of the world's oldest football knockou ...
. His assistants for the match were Shaun Procter-Green from
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
and David Richardson from
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, with
Lee Mason
Lee Mason (born 29 October 1971) and biography:
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
acting as fourth official.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony for the match began with the Football League Cup trophy being brought out onto the field of play by Manchester United fan Private Dave Tatlock of
2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
The Second Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA), is a battalion-sized formation of the Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom), Parachute Regiment, part of the British Army, and subordinate unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade, 16th Air Assault Brig ...
; Tatlock had been wounded while on tour in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in 2008. A piece of shrapnel embedded in his spine, leaving him paralysed, and he had been told by doctors that he would never walk again. Within four weeks, he regained feeling in his legs, and three months later he was able to walk with the aid of a stick. At the time of the match, he was waiting for an operation that would fully restore his mobility.
The players and officials then emerged from the tunnel and lined up along a red carpet, accompanied by their team mascots; Manchester United's mascot was seven-year-old Charlie Simpson, selected for his fund-raising efforts in aid of the victims of the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...
, while Aston Villa were led out by six-year-old Ben Clay, whose identical twin Oliver has cerebral palsy and attends a hospice run by
Acorns Children's Hospice
Acorns Children's Hospice Trust is a registered charity, offering a network of palliative care and support to life-limited and life-threatened children and their families across the West Midlands region and part of South West England. Acorns has ...
, whose logo Aston Villa wear on their shirts. The teams were then presented to the day's guests of honour:
Brian Mawhinney
Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, (26 July 1940 – 9 November 2019) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 to 1997 and a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005.
Early life
Mawhinney ...
, chairman of The Football League, and Martin Thomas, the Supply Chain Director of Molson Coors (UK), who own the Carling brand. Finally, the national anthem was sung by 21-year-old
Camilla Kerslake
Camilla Kerslake is an English classical crossover singer from London who was the first signing to Gary Barlow's record label.
.
Match
Team selection
Aston Villa went into the match with only two players unavailable due to injury: forward
Marlon Harewood
Marlon Anderson Harewood (born 25 August 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Harewood started his career at Nottingham Forest. During his career there, he had loan spells at Haka and Ipswich Town before j ...
(foot) and midfielder
Nigel Reo-Coker
Nigel Shola Andre Reo-Coker (born 14 May 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, as well as a football commentator and pundit for CBS Sports.
Reo-Coker came through the youth team ranks at Wimbledon, and h ...
(ankle); although midfielder
Stiliyan Petrov
Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov ( Bulgarian: Стилиян Альошев Петров, born 5 July 1979) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Petrov joined Celtic from CSKA Sofia in 1999, and won ten trophies in ...
had missed the previous game with a virus. Defender
James Collins James, Jim, Jimmy, or Jamie Collins may refer to:
Sports Association football
* Jimmy Collins (footballer, born 1872) (1872–1900), Scottish footballer
* Jimmy Collins (footballer, born 1895), Scottish footballer
* Jimmy Collins (footballer, born ...
and forward
Emile Heskey
Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who currently serves as head of football development of Leicester City Women. Playing as a striker, he made more than 500 appearances in the Foo ...
were both rested for Villa's FA Cup fifth round replay against
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building
* ...
on 24 February. Also rested was goalkeeper
Brad Friedel
Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.
Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country at ...
, indicating manager
Martin O'Neill
Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...
's intention for Friedel to start the final, despite reserve goalkeeper
Brad Guzan
Bradley Edwin Guzan (; born September 9, 1984) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC.
A college soccer second ...
having started each of Villa's other League Cup matches during the season. Defender
Stephen Warnock
Stephen Warnock (born 12 December 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender.
Starting off his career at Liverpool, he went on to also represent Coventry City, Bradford City, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Bolt ...
had been suffering a shin problem earlier in the season, but he was given two weeks of rest before returning to the Villa side for their last three matches before the final to gain some match fitness.
Manchester United, on the other hand, were beset by injury and suspension; midfielder
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
broke his arm in the league match between the two teams 18 days earlier, forcing him to miss a month of the season, while fellow midfielder
Anderson
Anderson or Andersson may refer to:
Companies
* Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910
* Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car
* Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer
* Anderson Ra ...
suffered an injury to the cruciate ligament in his left knee against Everton and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Defender
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...
had been expected to play in the match following a four-match suspension for an incident against
Hull City
Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...
, but he suffered a recurrence of a back problem that had kept him out of contention for three months earlier in the season. Also missing with long-term injuries for United were midfielder
Owen Hargreaves
Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with posses ...
(knee) and defender
John O'Shea
John Francis O'Shea (; born 30 April 1981) is an Irish professional football coach and former player. He was known for his versatility in playing several positions on either side of the pitch or the centre.
Born in Waterford, O'Shea joined Man ...
(thigh), while midfielder Nani was suspended for three matches after being sent off for a two-footed tackle on Stiliyan Petrov in the match between United and Villa on 10 February.
Aston Villa's team was as expected, with the possible exception of Friedel starting in goal ahead of Guzan. Martin O'Neill played a 4–4–2 formation with Heskey and Agbonlahor in attack and
Ashley Young
Ashley Simon Young (born 9 July 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or full-back for Premier League club Aston Villa, where he is club captain.
Young started his career at Watford and made his first senior appea ...
and
Stewart Downing
Stewart Downing (born 22 July 1984) is an English former professional footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Ameri ...
on the wings, while Stephen Warnock was deemed fit enough to play at left-back and Stiliyan Petrov recovered from his virus to captain the side from central midfield. The biggest surprise in the teams selected by both managers was
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...
's decision to leave in-form striker
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...
on the bench, opting instead to partner
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...
with
Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...
up front and play four in midfield. Also surprising was Ferguson's decision to play
Tomasz Kuszczak
Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak (; born 20 March 1982) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Born in Krosno Odrzańskie, Kuszczak previously played for Śląsk Wrocław in Poland, as well as for the German clubs KFC U ...
in goal ahead of
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...
, who had been rested in midweek. It later came to light that Rooney had a minor knee injury and was named on the bench as a precaution.
Summary
First half
Aston Villa began the game quickly, earning an early free kick on the left wing before taking the lead with a
penalty kick
A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
in the fifth minute; Gabriel Agbonlahor was played in behind the United defence and outpaced Nemanja Vidić to the penalty area, where the Serbian defender grabbed hold of the English striker's shirt before lunging in with a clumsy challenge. Referee
Phil Dowd
Philip Dowd (born 26 January 1963) : The James Milner took the penalty and sent goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak the wrong way with a side-footed finish to the bottom-right corner.
Manchester United equalised seven minutes later after capitalising on an uncharacteristic mistake by Richard Dunne. Dimitar Berbatov caught Dunne in possession inside the Aston Villa half and ran towards the goal; although Dunne was able to catch up to Berbatov, his tackle only succeeded in finding its way to Michael Owen on the edge of the penalty area, where he swept the ball past Brad Friedel into the bottom-left corner of the goal. Milner had a chance to double his tally and restore his side's lead four minutes later with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, but Kuszczak kept the scores level with a diving, two-handed save.
As the first half drew to a close, Owen pulled up with a hamstring injury as he chased down a ball into the Aston Villa penalty area; Wayne Rooney came on to replace him in the 41st minute. Park Ji-sung almost gave Manchester United the lead in injury time at the end of the first half, as James Collins' attempted clearance from Antonio Valencia's cross fell to him just inside the penalty area, but his shot hit the post.
Second half
Michael Carrick had the first significant chance of the second half in the 49th minute, when he forced Friedel into a low, diving save after making space for himself with a neat turn on the edge of the box. It took until the 74th minute for United to take the lead, as Rooney beat Friedel with a looping header; Berbatov found Valencia on the right side of the penalty area near the goal line, and the Ecuadorian stood up a cross into the centre, where Rooney outjumped Collins to head back across goal his 28th goal of the season. Rooney almost scored again with another header three minutes later, but it hit the foot of the left-hand post.
Villa's search for an equaliser resulted in Norwegian striker John Carew coming on for Spanish right-back Carlos Cuellar with 10 minutes to play, and Carew almost had an immediate impact; as Stewart Downing crossed from the right wing, Carew's presence caused confusion in the Manchester United penalty area, and Vidić knew little about it as Heskey's header ricocheted off his shoulder and up onto the top of the crossbar. Dunne had a chance to equalise in the dying minutes as Downing chipped a cross to the far post, but he didn't make good enough contact on his header and it went harmlessly wide. United managed to survive the four minutes of injury time at the end of the second half to take the victory, the first team to retain the League Cup since Nottingham Forest in 1990 and the first time they had retained a cup trophy in their history.
Details
Statistics
Source: BBC Sport
See also
*
2009–10 Football League
The 2009–10 Football League (known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th completed season of the Football League. It began in August 2009 and concluded in May 2010, with the promotion play-off finals. The Footb ...
*
2010 FA Cup Final
The 2010 FA Cup Final was the 129th final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The match took place on 15 May 2010, at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of over 88,000 and a British television audience ...
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...