Barça, Barça, Baaaaaarça!!!!

My coworker Maria Jose and her husband have season tickets to FC Barcelona soccer, which is insane. The tickets are crazy expensive and Spanish soccer(futbol) as a whole is ranked #1 in the entire world and FC Barca is one of the top teams in the world. So, naturally, when Maria Jose said that she and her husband weren't going to a game against Atletico de Madrid, AND THEN OFFERED THE TICKETS TO ME FOR FREE, I was practically shitting my pants. I accepted, of course, and went to my first Spanish soccer game!!!

I went with a British friend (who I was hoping would turn out to be a drunk hooligan like the ones you see on tv) and arrived at 930 PM for a 10 PM game. This was on a wednesday but Spaniards would rather miss sleep than miss a game. Someone told me that there were 50,000 people there. When we arrived at our seats, we realized that we were 26 only rows up from the field. Wow. The atmosphere in the stadium was nuts. The Barca fans have several songs that they like to sing to get the team pumped up and those were fun to hear (and to try to sing along with even though I don't speak Catalan). And then the Spaniards did the wave. Yes, the wave. But, not the crappy American wave that never works...this wave was like a wave on steroids. The wave here is serious business.

So then it was 10 PM and the game was starting. It was amazing to see how good that these players really were. To only be 26 rows up and be watching some of the best players in the world was a great experience. Oh, and I forgot one thing. Beer is not an essential like when at American sporting events. Everyone is too into the game to worry about beer. Maybe it's because I'm American, but huh? At least they had hot dogs though!

Atletico de Madrid scored first, which prompted a text from a nervous Maria Jose which(jokingly) said that if Barca lost, I would never get tickets from her again. Lucky for me, Barca tied it up later in the half on a beautiful header and went on to win 2-1.

Being at that stadium was like being at an American football or baseball playoff game. That's how pumped up the fans were. And this was for only a regular season game! I can only imagine what it would be like if it were in a championship or against rivals Real Madrid. That would be awesome to see. Oh, and I learned several new curse words in Spanish and Catalan throughout the game. Barca fans do not hold their tongue when they are upset.

Now, I know a lot of you Americans are like what? Soccer???? But I gotta tell you, when you're watching the best players in the world live, it's a really great experience.

PS Maria Jose said that she also has season tickets to FC Barcelona Basketball and sometime in the future I could use them. This woman is amazing and I am one lucky SOB.

Matt