Basque Country Live

This week’s match-up in San Mamés Stadium: Athletic Bilbao – Valencia CF. I couldn’t leave the Basque Country without paying a visit to Spain’s oldest football stadium so I decided to head down to Bilbao and pay my support to Athletic.

I would’ve loved to write about a clinching Athletic victory but sadly enough the Lions lost the game with 1-2. They played a very nice second half and surely deserved a draw. But if football was logic, the game wouldn’t be worth watching, so let’s hope Athletic has better luck next week.

Our crew was four men strong as we drove down to Bizkaia’s capital. We arrived a couple of hours in advance but you could notice that an Athletic game was about to go down. A lot of bars were already packed with fans in red and white. Men, women and children, all dressed up in the club’s colours. I felt a bit like an outsider with my regular clothes so I quickly visited the fan shop to buy something more ‘tributing’.

Ambience

As the kick-off approached, the atmosphere grew stronger. The hardcore supporter clans (like the Herri Norte Taldea) started to sing club anthems while others banged their drums or blew their horns. As long as you make noise, you’re in.

San Mamés is the oldest stadium in Spain but their currently building a new one just a few meters further. The stadium was completely rebuilt to host matches in the 1982 World Cup. It can seat almost 40,000 people and is practically sold out every game.

The main tribune of San Mamés © Athletic Bilbao

Entering a football stadium and giving the pitch a first glance is always quite exciting. We were seated at the north side of the stadium, pretty much in the corner. Not the best seats of course (student budget you know), but I didn’t care much, I was about to see Spanish football at the highest level!

Entertaining second half

While Athletic is running a quite anonymous season (currently standing 8th), Valencia occupies a respectable 3rd position, which is rewarded with a Champions League ticket at the end of the season.

Muniain celebrating his goal © Athletic Bilbao

The first half was pretty much obsolete with very few real chances but the second half totally made up for that with goals, a penalty and a lot of drama. For a full match report I redirect you to Koen’s blog.

At the end of the ride, this was a pleasant acquaintance with La Liga’s football. An eye-opener for sure when you’ve only seen Belgium football live.

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