Spain Day 2 (January 29, 2009)

Day two in Barcelona was full of sight seeing and just simply walking the streets, trying to soak in as much of the culture as possible. Throughout the entire day though, we were all filled with anticipation for the coming night’s soccer (futbol) match. We had ordered tickets about a week before arriving in Spain. We didn’t find out until we actually arrived in Barcelona that the match meant much more than we had thought. It was a Spanish Cup Championship Match, pairing up FC Barcelona (the team we were rooting for) against RCD Espanyol (one of Barca’s biggest rivals, also located in Barcelona). We arrived to the match a little late; it took us a while to get there -- the subway being absolutely packed the whole way. We arrived at the stadium, Camp Nou, which looked about 3 times bigger than Lambeau Field. Standing outside the stadium we could hear the roars of 100,000 plus Barcelona fans inside. On our way to the ticket window, we passed a number of security squads, which looked more like the Spanish military than security guards at a sporting event. Once we got our tickets, we quickly ran to our gate, which was located on the exact opposite side of this massive stadium. The roars of the crowd continued. Matt and I thought that the score must have been 10-0 by the time we actually got to our seats, we both looked at the scoreboard, sure enough: 0-0. The inside of the stadium was absolutely breath taking. Never before in my life have I seen 100,000 people completely focused on every single movement of the field. Also, instead of booing the opposing team, they whistle in very high pitches – it is a really cool sound. It was crazy to observe the anticipation in every single person as a player would make an attempt at scoring. It was even crazier to observe the explosion of the stadium once a goal was actually scored. Barcelona’s star player, Lionel Messi, is only 21 years old. His ball skills are like that of an artist, and he is incredibly quick as well. Before seeing this game and specifically this player in person, I did not have much respect for this sport. But after being there, it is simply amazing, everything about it. It is amazing how every person in the stadium worships this player Messi. Whenever he makes a good move or has a good attempt, the entire crowd chants “Messi, Messi, Messi”, and 100,000 people bow up and down in the direction of this 21 year old kid. It is absolutely breath-taking. I could tell by just being in attendance that the magnitude of importance this sport has in this specific culture, cannot be matched back in the states. We were fortunate enough to have been able to see a great game. 3-2 was the final score: Barcelona the victors. I bought a jersey on the street outside the stadium after the game -- #10 Messi.