Spanish football is taking up residence in the beautiful city of Cardiff today with Real Madrid and Seville in town for UEFA Super Cup match at Cardiff City Stadium.
The game, a sell-out, will again showcase the City of Cardiff as a major sporting venue with a worldwide TV audience. Cardiff born Garth Bale adds some local interest being the world’s most expensive football player after signing for Real Madrid from Tottenham in a £85m plus transfer.
Madrid go into the game has favourites and are one of the biggest supported football teams in the world. Their strong support base comes via Central and South America. Because of the Bale factor, the Spanish giants are likely to pick up most of the local support who will outnumber Spanish visitors by two to one. If Bale, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo who are expected to play together for the first time that will mean a mind blowing £230m worth of talent on show.
Seville go into the game as underdogs having won the UEFA Europa League regarded as the poor man’s Champions League, won by Madrid. Last season in the Spanish Primera Liga it was honours even with Seville winning 2-1 but at Madrid Bernabeu stadium it was a massacre with the home team winning 7-3 a score line like that tonight would be mouth-watering. It doesn’t seem to have caught the imagination of the Spanish fans with reports both clubs have returned tickets and around 10,000 Real Madrid and Seville fans are making the trip.
It will be a first visit to Cardiff for Real Madrid since Brian Clark headed the Bluebirds to a 1 - 0 victory over the Spanish giants in 1971. Pity its not the Bluebirds v Madrid.
No comments:
Post a Comment