Stadium Poznan

The roof was the main story when the rebuild finished, and it still defines the place. Before the main work, the old stands were already crumbling, and the club needed somewhere that could hold the crowd without feeling like a relic. They handed a debut to a young striker in the first league game after the roof came on, and he has not looked back since.

Outside the gates the trees crowd the perimeter, and the street runs quiet when the teams are not playing. The address is plain, but the entrance is not easy to find if you do not know where to look. The grass is natural, and the pitch cut up badly after the last heavy rain, but the groundskeeper does not travel to make up the numbers; he stays and fixes it. The price has drifted up since the Euro games, and the regulars noticed.

The banners hang from the upper tier, and the names on them are older than the roof. Some of the chants started before the rebuild, and the new seats have not changed that. The stadium held the crowd for the final against Legia, and the players gave nothing away until the very end. The roof does not close, so the sky is always part of the game, and when the clouds roll in, the players sense blood. The ground is ordinary if you look at the numbers, but the way the wind hits the roof makes it different.