Day #41 - Barcelona, Spain - Soccer Game

FC Barcelona vs. Xerez CD

Scarfs are a popular purchase

82,000 person stadium

Very impressive stadium

Best team in the world

Saturday, April 24th

Today I got to experience my first soccer match in Europe - FC Barcelona vs. Xerez CD. I learned a lot about soccer in the last two days. Generally I understand the game, but how it fits into specifics within European culture - that was really interesting.

The game started at 6pm on Saturday night. Because of my experience in Madrid, I wanted to get there early. Therefore, I decided to sleep in and hang around the hostel area until leaving for the match. I had to pickup my ticket at the stadium, as I purchased it online. My hostel was located 10 minutes walking from the stadium - awesome. I went over about 1pm to see if my ticket was there. I could not get it yet - only after 3pm. The area surrounding the stadium was packed with people. Souvenir stands were already open.

I went back to the hostel after eating some lunch. I had to change rooms from my single room to a six-person dorm. I got setup and in the process met this guy who was also going to the game. This guy was the most educated soccer fan I may ever meet in my entire life. He filled me in on the whole scoop. Basically, FC Barcelona is the best soccer team in the world. (Hey - nice - I heard the best of the best were coming here). They have arguably the best player in the world (Messi). European leagues are the dominant soccer leagues in the world, with Spain, the UK, and Italy being the powerhouses in Europe. Each country has a league of their own. And then the clubs from each country play against each other for the Champions Cup. FC Barcelona won both the Spanish league and the Champions Cup last year.

I found out that there are 20 teams in the Spanish soccer league (the top tier). FC Barcelona is in first place. Xerez CD is in last place. So the match I'm going to see should be a slaughter. I learned why there was so much potential anger for riot in Madrid a few weeks ago. Currently Real Madrid is the 2nd best team in Spain. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid hate each other. I was told by the guy I met (who was from U.S.) that this rivalry is Yankees / Red Sox, Cardinals / Cubs times 50. He said it's the most heated rivalry in soccer. I'm told Barcelona and Madrid really do not like each other as cities. I'm finding the differences interesting about the two - and people from one area clearly have a chip on their shoulder about the other.

I go back to the stadium around 3pm. I got my ticket right away - which I did not expect. It was an awesome day so I took a seat on a grassy hillside across from the stadium along with a ton of other fans. Attendance was 82,434 fans for the game. The atmosphere was exciting, but it was truly tame as compared to what I saw outside Real Madrid stadium. I did not see anger or hostility, it was a pretty casual atmosphere. I'm told that Xerez is from the very southern tip of Spain - right near Portugal. The name of the town is actually Jerez - not sure why the soccer team is called Xerez. Supposedly, this team is really bad and may be moved down a level. I do not think Barcelona fans could be too angry at this club.

Interesting things from my first soccer match:

(1) If you ever watch a soccer game on TV - you may notice the constant horns. Check out a worldcup game this summer - you'll hear it. I always thought it was some crazy soccer fan guy. Well, turns out - most of this noise is primarily made by little kids under the age of 10. I'm sitting on the hillside and start hearing the horns. I look around, every kid has a little plastic horn which makes unbelievably loud noises.

(2) If you are not wearing a jersey, flag, or scarf -- you're probably not a big fan.

(3) The players have little time before the game for warmup. The players arrived at the stadium about 4:30 pm. People were waiting for them on the streets. FC Barcelona did not come out for warmups until about 30 minutes before the game.

(4) In between halfs, I go out to get a water. My seat was in the upper deck. Normally, you'll see large concession stands open. They had these - but nobody staffed them. They had 1 small booth. (You know the small beer booths at baseball stadiums that help keep crowds from the concession stands). This is what they had - one of these. It was staffed by a 15 year old kid. 40 people swarmed this kid. There was no line. People were just picking up what they wanted and throwing money on the table. The kid was going back and forth frantically amongst the mass. I was impressed by the kid - he kept his cool. I can't believe he was even put in that situtation. And I can't believe there was no line. It was truly - the most aggressive person got what they wanted first.

(5) After half - a big thing is to tear paper out of your program, form paper airplanes, and see if you can throw these on the field. There was a lot of paper on the field by end of game.

All in all, it was a great expereince. Barcleona won 3-1. It could have been much worse. Even to an amateur eye like myself, the skill level was obvious between the two teams. It was the varsity versus JV. I can appreciate soccer, and really enjoy watching the World Cup, but I'll never be taken for soccer fan guy. One of the primary reasons, many soccer players fake injuries. This more than bothers me about the sport. At one point in the game, this guy was rolling around on the ground, writhing in apparent agony for nearly 5 minutes. People with compound fractures could not show more agony. The ref runs over to give a yellow card. The guy gets up, and not 30 seconds later, is running a 4.5 - 40 yard dash down the field - clearly not hurt at all. That's OK - it was a really neat day and I'm glad I was able to see such a great team play on their home field.