¡Aupa Athletic!

We started following La Liga closely in 2020, when Europe and their sports leagues emerged from COVID restrictions sooner than their American counterparts. Over the next few years we began obsessively watching matches. We closely followed teams from cites that we loved, such as Sevilla and Bilbao. We had also started waking-up earlier on weekends. With the time difference, La Liga matches aired as early as 8:00am in DC. This had us following La Liga even more closely, as matches would fill the gap between our early wake-up and the afternoon start of US sports. By the time we left for Spain, we would watch 3-4 matches/day most weekends.

El Derbi Vasco

El Derbi Vasco between Athletic Club and Real Sociedad was scheduled for our first weekend in Bilbao. We considered buying tickets, but they were too expensive for our liking. We did, however, make the match the focus of our Saturday. We decided to go to Estadio San Mamés before the match for a festival that the team was holding. Along the way we encountered fans at every bar, spilling onto the sidewalk and enjoying copas. We stopped at a couple of spots along the way, relishing the opportunity to participate in our favorite Spanish pastime: drinking in the streets. 

The festival itself was chill. There was a band performing and lots of kid-friendly activities, but most folks just stood around, chatting with friends, sipping on kalimotxo. We were happy to do the same. We bought Athletic Club scarves and walked a lap around San Mames, appreciating the views of greater Bilbao on a pleasant afternoon.

We then made our way to Casco Viejo to find somewhere to watch the match. Unfortunately, sports bars aren’t really a thing in Spain. Very few bars have TVs and even fewer pay for the channel that shows La Liga. This means that sizable crowds spill onto the sidewalk at the few establishments that show matches. We ended up watching the match at one of our favorite spots on Plaza Nueva, clustered on the sidewalk with other Athletic Club fans, carefully balancing a caña in one hand and a plate of pintxos in the other. We also found a couple of bars on the nearby Plaza Unamuno who were showing the match. This will surely become our ritual whenever Athletic Club plays this season.  

Tonight there’s a Copa del Rey match at San Mamés between Athletic Club and Deportivo Alavés. Tickets were much more reasonably priced, so we’ve decided to go. Check back later this week for an update on our first in-person La Liga match experience!