Local News: El Clasico 2010

In the United States, futbol (aka soccer in America) is not a big national sport.  I feel like the only time it is ever recognized is every four years when the FIFA World Cup is played.  Futbol in Barcelona, however, is definitely not like that.  I have never lived in a city that is so obsessed and proud of its main professional sports team.  In this case, that team is Barcelona's futbol team FC Barcelona.  The biggest game of the year for this team and this city is when Real Madrid comes to town to play in the world famous game, El Clasico.  This futbol match is played at least bi-annually and is one of the most viewed in the world, estimated to be watched by over 100 million people.

The game is not big because it is played by the two biggest teams in Spain, but rather symbolizes the Catalonian view and feelings towards Spain.  Catalonia is very big on its independence and the nationalism displayed at this game by FC Barcelona fans makes that loud and clear.  My friends and I were lucky enough to get a table at a bar called Ovella Negra.  We had to get to the bar at 7pm, the game started at 9pm.

Waiting for the two hours between arriving at the bar until the time the game started was well worth it.  The energy in the bar was nothing like I have ever experienced before.  We were the only "fans" who were not local Barcelona residents.  At first we felt uncomfortable with this, but after a few beers and talking to locals sitting around us, we were quickly taught FC Barcelona chants and became die hard fans in no time.  FC Barcelona ended up winning the game 5-0, a huge win for a futbol game, especially for El Clasico!  After the game was over, my friends and I decided to go to Placa Catalunya to see if there was a celebration, and it turned out to be a little bigger than we though.  Las Ramblas was flooded with people all celebrating the big win over Real Madrid, it was crazy!  Needless to say this was one of the cooler sporting event experience of my life.