Champions League!

For all the soccer fans in our midst, Wednesday was a fascinating day. We started the day at the Spanish Federation Ciudad de Futbol (City of Football) where the Spanish national team trains and preps for major tournaments. The training field was beautiful with incredible views of mountains in the background.

We got to tour the museum on site about the history of football in Spain and around the world. For those who could read Spanish, I’m sure it was really interesting. For the rest of us, we enjoyed seeing the memorabilia and trying to decipher the signs. The highlights of the museum were for sure the 2008 European Championship trophy,

the 2010 World Cup trophy and the 2012 European Championship trophy - an amazing run for the country in the last decade. The boys also enjoyed seeing the Spanish Cup trophy that Sergio Ramos dropped from the bus top during the parade celebration.

After lunch we were back to Burnabeu for a tour of the stadium. If you are a Real Madrid fan, this is THE place to go. The museum is extremely well done with lots of interactive displays and cool layouts of trophies, jerseys and anything else that is significant to Real Madrid. As with all stadium tours we were able to walk out onto the pitch and see the players dressing rooms. In a very Disney World fashion, the tour ended in the gift shop where boys could purchase Real Madrid and Adidas merchandise to their hearts content.

With some free time to explore Madrid before the big game, everyone broke off into small groups to do a little more site seeing and eat

dinner. One group of boys ended up in Plaza Mayor with all the Leicester City fans in town and got a true international football experience. Luckily they were smart enough to get out before things got too rowdy.

Finally, the big game arrived. The streets around Vicente Calderon stadium were packed with red/white and blue jerseys from both sets of fans. The atmosphere was festive like the Derby, but a little more intense. This wasn’t just a game of pride, this game meant something big as a Champions League quarterfinal match. Our group was split pretty evenly between those supporting Atletico and those supporting Leicester. The Atletico song our host, Duarte, taught us - Atleti, Atleti, Atletico de Madrid - quickly got modified with a “Leicester” chant right at the end.

To say police presence was high was an understatement. Police vans, riot gear, horses - the whole lot was on very visible display. As a high profile sporting event and after what happened to the Dortmund/Monaco game the day before, it was both understandable and a comfort.

We got to our seats and had a great view at midfield. From the moment they entered the stadium the Atletico fans were singing and chanting. Of the two big Madrid teams, Atletico has always been the underdog and the passion of the fans was evident because of it. When the whole stadium got caught up in the singing it was pretty amazing. Definitely one of those things you feel deep in your bones.

Amidst all of the singing, the teams took to the fields, starting lineups were announced and then the Champions League song began. I have to admit - I got chills. After seeing these starting ceremonies on TV countless times, to see it in person was really special.

Then the game began. Atletico took the lead about 20 minutes in when a PK was awarded after Grizemann was taken down just along the edge of the box (whether it was in or out of the box is up for debate). Atletico kept the pressure on Leicester throughout the entire game. The Leicester defense did an outstanding job to keep it close at 1-0, but the offense was unable to muster any sort of effective counterattack. In the end, the score remained 1-0 and now the series goes to Leicester for the second leg of the quarterfinal.

As I said at the start, if you are a soccer fan and passionate about the game, this is a day you will long remember!