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Best from the Stands” is the serie which shows you monthly all the finest moments happened in the global ultras scene. Ultrasbible believes that being an ultras is an art, and on art we decided to lean on for our project. With the partnership of the young illustrator Giuseppe Bonardi, we analyze one of his new artwork containing all of the best shots of last month, in our own style!

As we dig deeper into the season, the football scene has lately offered us some of the most intense derbies all around the world. A good chance for us enthusiasts to enjoy a great show coming from many stadiums, and a challange for us at @ultrasbible to select the best ones for our new episode of Best from the Stands. Milano and Istanbul city derbies get themselves a slot in our selection, which also see the lights of more “exotic” places involved. With some of the leagues in the nordic countries set to get a long winter break, we’ll have to wait for the contributes of some of the most interesting ultras bases around, but the rest of Europe and in general the southern part of the world is ready to please our eyes in the upcoming weeks. Great scenarios coming from Brazil, southern Italy and Alsace are infact all worthy to be celebrated in our Best from the Stands – November!

AC MILAN vs INTER, 07-11-2021, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza – MILANO DOESN’T FORGET

With the Milano derby taking place so early during November, we were sure at least one slot would have already been gone there. And of course we weren’t disappointed, knowing this derby always offer some of the most impressive displays of the whole season, with AC Milan looking brighter this time, and perfectly taking advantage of their home derby, with three whole sectors avaiable in height in the Curva Sud of the huge Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Their choreo was both impressive in its beauty and its meaning. More than 10k fans were involved in it, with red and black cardstocks framing a huge banner in the middle of the stand, and lifted up to cover two ring with an approximate height of 25 meters. With the northern Italian city being one of the most hardly hit by Covid during last year, they used this chance to thank the commendable work done by doctors, nurses, and the whole medical system. “Grazie, Milano non dimentica” easily translates as “Thank You, Milano doesn’t forget“; neither we’ll forget this choreo for a long time!

STRASBOURG vs METZ, 21-11-2021, Stade de la Meinau – 30 YEARS ULTRAS BOYS 90

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWjVdGfAzW2/

Later into the month, and travelling some kilometers up north, here we are with RC Strasbourg and its main group Ultra Boys 90 celebrating their 30th anniversary with a noteworthy effort. We remember few sides already trying this show few seasons ago, such as Rapid Wien and Basel, but the French side definitly confirms its place amongst the most active and propositive ones in Europe with their own show. Wondering why Beppe decided to represent them as a chameleon? It’s because they were able to “change dress” for an astonishing nine times during a single game; they indeed set up nine different shows, with then an average of 10 minutes each, colouring their stands in different ways and showing some amazing organization skills, plus a good amount of creativity.

GALATASARAY vs FENERBAHCE, 21-11-2021, TURK TELEKOM – SQUID GAME

In the same day as Strasbourg’s action, we find another ultras side taking a seat in our November choices for Best from the Stands. It’s Galatasaray, with UltrAslan setting up a great choreo once again for yet another legendary derby with their city rivals of Fenerbahce. Since days before the match there has been a Squid Game thread going on within the two clubs, both on Twitter and with provocations coming from both sides of the city, as the serie became massive in Turkey following the rest of Western world. And with this display we believe Galatasaray wins it all, being able to create this difficult choreo in very few weeks. The iconic sountrack from the serie plays from the stadium’s spearkers, as characters from the serie are shown with big banners in the hottest stands of the stadiums, with a clear hate reference on their rivals in the middle of their opera: player 1907 (year of Fenerbahce’s foundation), eliminated!

CORITIBA vs CSA, 21-11-2021, Estadio Couto Pereira – IMPERIO ALVIVERDE

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWnvDCDNlNk/

Coritiba had the proper thought of adding once again some quality contents to the 21st of November, which with the Brazilian side taking a spot in our favourites, becomes a very intense day for the ultras world. A massive green smoke and pyroshow came up from the ground covering most of the height of the biggest stadium in the Paranà region, the Couto Pereira, with its 38.000 seats. Huge banners were also used to decorate the whole torcida with the club’s shirts, and a the name of the main group from Coritiba, Imperio Alviverde. We believe you’d also want to know this club plays in the Brazilian 2nd division, giving their support even more value, being unconditional from the club performance; a tradtion for most of south American supporters!

SALERNITANA vs JUVENTUS, 30-11-2021, Stadio Arechi – TRUE LOVE

November’s cirlce closes in Italy as it’s started, going all the way south and finally meeting Salernitana with one of their iconic choreos. With the Salerno side promoted in Serie A after 22 years since their last spell, we were expecting them to bring their art to the high-visibility Serie A, as they used to dominate the scenes in the lower leagues during the past years. There were some attempts already earlier in the season, but not as beautiful as this one, put into reality before the big match against Juventus and where their ultras are finally back to a very high quality standars. The structure of their ultras stand – the Curva Sud Siberiano – obviously helps with the creation of such art pieces, being basically a homogeneous wall. In this case they covered it with both cardstocks and banners, giving form to a real love declaration to their club. The True Love, or l’Ammore Overo in their regional slang, could you be more romantic? Our artist Beppe decided to make this exploit coming from a caricaturial character, proudly showing his tattoo, and finishing up our work for this episode of Best from the Stands!