Real Madrid

Ground: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Visits: 1 (0 for Real Madrid match)

Date: 18th November 2007

Match: Spain - Sweden 3-0 (EURO 2008 qualifier)

Attendance: 75 000

Since I was unable to get time off work I travelled down to Madrid early on Saturday morning, knowing it would be a long day (10pm kick-off). Everything went as planned and I was at my hotel by 3pm. I had booked the nearest hotel to the Bernabéu I had found and after some rest I went down to the ground to take some pictures of the outside. To my huge surprise I noticed that they did Stadium Tours until 5 pm ! In I went and the first stop was a panoramic view and the ground was truly breathtaking. You did the tour without a guide, there was a route which you followed (only the dressing-rooms were closed off from the normal tour) and it was very weird to be pitchside by the tunnel five hours before kick-off. The ground was in better condition than I expected and I fully enjoyed the experience this famous ground.
After watching Scotland lose out to Italy I headed towards the ground again and found my seat in the fourth tier (out of five). Unfortunately there was a net to ”secure” the away fans and it made my picture taking a bit more difficult. The less said about the match the better but as I said afterwards "The ground was better than the match"!

santiago bernabeu, outside2