First desperate in the red jersey, then as fearful as the Hulk with a naked torso. Blick met the Swiss national team who became famous overnight. And his journey continues!
After the sensational victory of the Swiss national team over world champions France, the pictures of national team fans go around the world. Within just under a minute it tears his fan heart apart, then he bursts with joy. Two photos - one man. The first photo shows him in the 89th minute. Switzerland are still 2: 3 behind. In his face: pain, despair, the dream of the quarter-finals seems to have burst.
But then Mario Gavranovic meets to equalize. There is no stopping the Swiss fan. He tears off his T-shirt, screams with joy, can hardly believe his luck. No more trace of the broken fan heart - just pride.
Blick meets the new Internet star on his return from Bucharest at Zurich Airport. His name is Luca Loutenbach and he comes from the canton of Jura. “I don't know what is happening to me,” says the 28-year-old. Laughing, he adds: "I believe that everyone who knows me has written to me."
«We didn't expect to get so many reactions. I'm just a normal fan, what matters is that Switzerland is in the quarter-finals. I am delighted for the whole country and all Swiss people. "
Even the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (50), shares the pictures of the Nati fan on Twitter. He writes: «Football, damn shit! Incredible. Many, many congratulations to Switzerland, well deserved. " And then he jokes about the fan: "The man of the game!"
It is no coincidence that the very same “man of the game” is in the stadium during the sensational victory. Loutenbach tries to be the national team at every game. This is his third game after the two games in Baku against Wales and Turkey. «I try everything possible so as not to miss a game. But it was logistically almost impossible to travel from Baku to Rome and back again », he almost apologizes.
There are only 90 seconds between the two images that go around the world. When asked about it, Loutenbach says: “This game contained everything that makes football the most beautiful sport for me. It was crazy - the game of the life of all Swiss fans. " After the great game there were still some glasses with the other fans in there. But since their flight left at 5 a.m., they couldn't have had a big party.
Loutenbach will not make up for this either, because he has to rest. After that he will “answer messages and wait impatiently for the quarter-finals against Spain on Friday”. He has not yet received an invitation for this game, but "if people want to pay me for the flight - they are very welcome," jokes the Jurassian. «If we find a flight, we would be happy to cheer for them in St. Petersburg. That would be wonderful, ”says Loutenbach.
hort time later, Loutenbach took his fate into his own hands and wrote to Swiss via Twitter: "Hey Swiss, how many retweets do I need so that you can fly me to St. Petersburg on Friday?" (Incidentally, there are currently around 360 retweets).
The airline's answer is straightforward: "Dear Luca, contact us with a direct message and we will make your dream come true." The answer from super fan Luca: "You are the best, thank you very much!" (asc / smi / euc)
Spartan2470 on July 1st, 2021 at 12:50 UTC »
Per here (and Google Translate):
A few more images.
scorpyo72 on July 1st, 2021 at 13:26 UTC »
Cursed translation of "bloody hell", apparently.
Boediee on July 1st, 2021 at 14:40 UTC »
He looks like three different people.