It’s love and war for footy-mad couple

SPARE a thought for Colin and Alison Johannisen from Southfield today.

Their marriage will face a stern test as two famous English Premier League clubs take to the field in a battle of skill and sportsmanship.

Colin supports Manchester United, while his wife of two years, Alison, is a diehard Liverpool fan.

The two clubs renew their rivalry this afternoon, in one of the world’s biggest football fixtures.

Alison is looking forward to the match-up. “We tease each other relentlessly, with him having the upper hand when he always says our only game for the season is against United,” she said.

But so confident was Colin that his team would win today that he had already prepared his post- match speech to “Mrs Johannisen”.

“Basically, I don’t try to boast too much about it. I will rather first keep quiet and let her congratulate me and then I’ll give her a hug afterwards,” he said.

“And then I will give pointers as well about what went wrong and what her team needs to improve on in their squad.”

But, all is fair in love and war and Colin praised Alison’s sporting knowledge as it makes their banter interesting.

“She knows quite a lot about sports. She can argue with me about which players’ stats are better,” he said.

Alison said a trip to Liverpool’s home ground, Anfield, is on her bucket list and she hopes to visit the stadium in 2020 for her 40th birthday.

With the battle lines drawn, the Johannisens agreed they would be back to the loving after 90-odd minutes today.

PICTURE: BHEKI RADEBE Alison Johannisen, who supports Liverpool, and her husband Colin, a die- hard Manchester United fan.