Archives for “football” tag

If you have watched association football (i.e. the one in which you actually hit the ball with your feet most of the time) at any point, you probably know that Madrid is home to one of the world’s most famous clubs, Real Madrid. Its stadium features the fourth most-visited museum in the city, but this website is about what locals do, and we don’t go there unless we’re showing a visiting friend around.

What many locals do is watch Real Madrid play football, often against the continent’s best teams. This year, for example, its opponents in the Champions League group stage were three reigning league champions: Manchester City, Ajax, and Borussia Dortmund.

Many Madrilenians grow up loving either Real Madrid or Atlético de Madrid, another of the city’s teams and also one of Spain’s greats. I grew up loving the first one, but I didn’t watch a game at the stadium until I was 22 years old, with my wife, Natalie. She wasn’t too much into football, but the atmosphere at the match was so special that ever since, she loves attending football matches.

If you’d also like to experience this atmosphere, go watch any of the town’s teams, especially during an European match, but do yourself a favor and buy the tickets from the official website, which will save you a lot of money. And do me a favor, and once you’re in the stadium, don’t be a tourist: scream and shout like the rest of the locals.