Bend it like Hirvonen…

25th May 2010

By Anthony Peacock

On the face of it, it’s hard to see exactly what Liverpool, a port in the north west of England, and Jyvaskyla – in central Finland – have in common. Both cities are well known for motor sport, although in Liverpool it tends to go by the alternative name of ‘joyriding’.

However, it’s really football that unites the two. Liverpool was the club that Finnish superstar Sami Hyypia played for during a 10-year spell from 1999-2009. He even captained the side on several occasions, being part of the squad that won the 2004-2005 Champions League.

Hyypia is a confirmed rally fan, having visited Rally Finland last year, and the respect is mutual – which is why Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen has been a lifelong Liverpool supporter.

Football is only Mikko’s second sporting love, as ice hockey – a Finnish national obsession, which is basically an organised fight on ice – comes first. As Mikko himself explained: “Like most people back home, ice hockey is what I grew up with but I love football too. Sami Hyypia is such a star in Finland that it was natural for me to support Liverpool.”

Mikko has been to the Champions League final three times, an event that Ford has sponsored for the past 18 years (making them the most loyal backer of the series). Last weekend the Finn flew straight in from the Nurburgring, where he had been testing the new Ford Focus RS 500 road car – which he described as “so quick, it’s scary” – to Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium, the venue for the UEFA final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.

Both sides lived up to their national stereotypes during the pre-match build-up. The Italians were noisy, sang terrible songs, and couldn’t quite get their banner, which was meant to fall down the length of the grandstand, to work properly.

The Germans shouted anthems with a vaguely militaristic beat to them and waved their arms a lot, while promising to conquer everything.

As it happened, it was Inter who took an early lead. They too have something in common with Mikko Hirvonen, because just like the Ford star (and all his WRC colleagues) the players each have a Pirelli logo emblazoned across their chests. In fact, Inter Milan are as closely associated with the Italian tyre company as semi-naked supermodels are with their calendar.

During the second half, Munich fought back aggressively: it seemed only a matter of time before they would get a goal in. But then Inter scored again, putting the result beyond doubt. The earlier text I had received from a friend saying that Italians were bound to be good at football because it was compulsory to switch sides halfway through seemed extremely churlish under the joyful circumstances.

Mikko enjoyed the match too. “Maybe it wasn’t the best actual game I have seen because after Milan scored they were quite defensive,” he said afterwards. “But it was definitely the best atmosphere. The crowd was unbelievable: it was a fantastic experience.”

In total, just over 80,000 people turned up to watch the match. The following day, 40,000 people came to the Porto road show in Portugal, where Mikko – along with Seb Loeb and several others – were driving. For now, it seems that wherever Mikko Hirvonen goes, the crowds just follow.