I don’t know how he managed to get tickets but I had the pleasure of scratching something off of my bucket list… I saw a Real Madrid match at the historic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. We arrived at the stadium a couple hours early to grab some cervezas and get in the mood for a real futbol match.
We head to our seats at around 3 p.m. with only one hour before the match was set to begin. The stadium was absolutely electric. There were places for us to sit but the every single person in the stadium was on their feet for the entirety of the match.
I was a bit concerned as I wasn’t local and I didn’t have any time to purchase some memorabilia so I stuck out like a sore thumb rocking a green American Apparel t-shirt, which is one of Elche’s colors. My fears were quickly extinguished when our neighbors at the stadium procured a carafe of sangria from his bag and we started getting down to business.
The game got off to an uneventful first half with the ball being volleyed back and forth between the two teams. There was one killer attempt on goal from Elche but it was tightly deflected by Iker Casillas. The first goal was scored by Illarramendi with a nice low drive to the corner. The stadium erupted and it seemed like we would have an actual match on our hands.
I had quite the blast while watching this match but my neighbors were a bit underwhelmed. At the end of the match there were three goals scored by Real Madrid but there was not fire in the player. Perhaps the best moment of the match came striking this enormous screamer.
I hope to make it back to another match before my time here is over, but all in all I had a great time. It seems like even when a match isn’t as exciting or nail biting it’s the same level as a Super Bowl game, in the stadium at least.
