Real Betis v. Real Madrid: Week 1 / Day 3 / Jan 13
Sevilla, Spain: Just got back home from Estadio Benito Villamarín where we saw the Real Betis v. Real Madrid match. I hate to say it, but the atmosphere at this stadium was probably the best I have seen for a soccer match. We had seats close to the field right along the top of the penalty area. Fortunately for us, that put us close to the most ardent Real Betis supports who were sitting behind the goal. Also fortunate for me was that we were at the end of the stadium where Real Madrid did their pregame warmups.
It still amuses me to see the players warming up doing the exact same warmup drills that I saw my kids doing for town, travel, and club soccer. I guess they are warming up for the same sport, but I just expect it to be more sophisticated somehow.
After the warmups were done there was a bit of pregame hype led by Palmerin (the palm), the Real Betis mascot (video below):
After that bit of entertainment the entire crowd joined in singing the Real Betis anthem. As you can see from the video, this was no half-hearted going through the motions kind of thing. They were all into it and love to support Betis (video below).
The game was a tense one over all with most of the action at the far end of the field from our seats. Madrid jumped out to an early lead (13th minute goal by Luka Modric) and then hung on for the remainder of the half. Betis evened the score on a goal by Sergio Canales early in the second half and then dominated possession.
The outcome was not looking good in the waning minutes for the Madridistas in attendance (more than just me – there were a bunch of them up in the far reaches of the stands fenced off from the Betis supporters):
However, following a late foul, Dani Ceballos (number 24 below) was able to convert a free kick for the winning goal:
Everyone rooting for Madrid got to leave happy.
After the game Linda and I walked the two and a half miles back to our apartment. It was interesting walking back as the streets were pretty crowded with fans walking back from the game for at least the first mile. It seems that a lot of fans just walk the distance from central Sevilla to the stadium and back.
