Thursday, March 13, 2014.
Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy.
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The Rosenborg squad, which had arrived in Turin the previous day, stepped onto the pitch for the pre-match warm-up session when the clock hand pointed to the eight o'clock mark that evening.
Zachary had thought that he'd already experienced all there was to the passion of football fans after playing against Fiorentina in Florence a few weeks prior. But after stepping into the Juventus stadium, he immediately realized how wrong he'd been. He was startled since the fans were much more intense than their counterparts in Florence.
Even though an hour remained before kick-off, the stadium was already jam-packed. The Juventus fans, mostly donned in their team's black and white colors, had already occupied nearly all the seats available in the stands. Moreover, they were already cheering wildly and singing at the top of their voices as they watched their team go through a dynamic warm-up.