Sometime in the first half of 2005 – note the sly football metaphor in the first half of the sentence – I got it into my head that I wanted to go to that year’s Champions League final. At that stage I didn’t know who was in the final. But I did know that the final was going to be in Istanbul and Istanbul was where I wanted to be.So, with a pushiness completely out of kilter with my basic personality, I went about securing tickets. It wasn’t difficult. I worked for the Sunday Times, a smug, self-important lot who were used to getting things their own way.Get full written episodes of the show a day early on Substack.Check out The Luke Alfred Show on: Facebook YouTube