MenkensInMadrid: Santiago Bernabeu

We have been to Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium (with 81,000 seats compared to Target Field’s 39,000) twice and both times with the Butlers. Once to see Real Madrid play against Rayo Vallencano and once to see youth soccer being played by teams from all over the world.

September 24 2011 Real Madrid v. Rayo Vallencano:
The Butlers had prepurchased tickets, I had looked on line to see pricing and positioning of seats but in the end I decided to wing it and buy them when we arrived at the Stadium. That way we had a chance of getting seats near the Butlers.

Before the game

Sydney, Kyle, Harry, Ellie, Billy and Charley looking forward to the game

Still warming up - many empty spaces

Stadium was packed when the game was on

At the start of the match it seemed like Real Madrid weren't ready to play when they let the other team score in the first few minutes. But that got them going and they won 6:3. We all enjoyed the great experience. Billy said it was the best day of his life seeing Ronaldo score three goals LIVE!

After the game

October 9th 2011 Danone Nations Cup for Youth Soccer:
The Recartes had kindly given us four free stadium tickets that they had won or earned from shopping at the Corte Ingles. We watched the final matches of the Danone Nations Cup, the world’s largest youth soccer tournament for kids born in calendar years 1999 and 2000. There were 40 countries represented. We sat in the sixth row on the sunny side of the stadium and the boys talked with several players on the field from English and Spanish speaking countries.

The stadium was divided in half with two matches going simultaneously. We saw many of our favorite countries play on our side of the Stadium. The only ones that we would have like to have seen that we did not were Germany and Argentina who played on the other side of the Stadium. Here are some of the teams in the order that we saw them play: