¡Aupa Athletic! [Segunda Edición]

Last week we headed to Estadio de San Mamés to watch Athletic Club face Deportivo Alavés in the Copa del Rey. Similar to the FA Cup, the Copa del Rey provides teams from the lower divisions of Spanish soccer the opportunity to compete against teams from La Liga. [Though, aside from Unionistas, a team from the third division that faced Barcelona, all of the teams in the Round of 16 of this year’s edition of La Copa play in La Liga.]

The match was scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00pm. Before the match we headed to the Indautxu neighborhood to grab beers and pintxos. We were delighted to find the streets full of Athletic Club supporters, enjoying drinks on the sidewalk on a warm January evening. We stopped first for oysters, then pintxos, before following the crowd to the stadium.

The bars on the street immediately across from the stadium were obviously also PACKED with fans. I was a bit sad that we hadn’t arrived sooner to partake in a zurito with these masses. But, since this was our first trip to “La catedral”, we wanted to make sure that we got inside on time to take it all in.We got to our seats about 20 minutes before kick-off and were surprised by how few fans were there. It almost seemed that the stadium would only be about half-full for the match. Fortunately, fans continued to file to their seats and every seat was occupied a few minutes after kickoff.

We were seated just a few sections over from the small contingent of Alavés supporters who are allowed to attend the match. [Fans of opposing teams at European soccer matches are required to sit in the section designated for their team. At San Mamés this section is surrounded by plexiglass and security guards to prevent any altercations from occurring.] The Alavés fans chanted in unison and waved flags throughout the match, even when they trailed 2-0. I was honestly super impressed by their unwavering enthusiasm. 

The Athletic Club fans certainly did plenty of chanting and celebrating of their own, especially after each of the goals were scored. During these celebratory moments the entire stadium waved their scarves and sang an anthem in Euskara. We obviously couldn’t sing along, but we definitely participated in the cheering and scarf waving when we had the opportunity. When we buy tickets for another match we’ll make a point to sit on the opposite side of the stadium, closer to the most animated section of Athletic Club supporters.

Athletic Club won the match 2-0 and will face FC Barcelona later this week in the Quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. While we won’t be attending this match, we’ll certainly be wearing red and cheering loudly, either from a bar or our couch. ¡Aupa Athletic!