This was game No 5 on a 7-games-in-8-days tour in October 2018. When I had booked my ticket for the flight to London, Stamford Bridge was in my plans so I booked a week when Europa League was playing betting on either a home game for Arsenal or Chelsea. With all the buzz around Chelsea since Abrahamovich took over, you have to aim for low hanging fruits if you want to do the 92 without being a supporter. BATE Borisov in the Europa League definitely was that type of game. £5 for the ticket for a senior and almost seats in every block in the stadium still for sale when they opened for general sale. 

I was staying at a hotel at Shepherds Bush so it was easy to get to Stamford Bridge and walk with the crowd up to the stadium. I had my seat in the West Stand Upper and there were two German guys sitting next to me. I had an aisle seat. 

As regards the football, the evening at Stamford Bridge belonged to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who became the first English Chelsea player to score a hat trick in Europe for 47 years. It took him less than two minutes to score the first goal and less than 10 to get the second. The third came early on in the second half. The Belarussian champions got one back from Aleksei Rios twenty minutes from time. 

Sitting across the aisle was a guy who seemed somewhat misplaced there. Amazingly, the next evening while walking up to Loftus Road, I found the same guy walking in front of me. Another groundhopper?