Sevilla

Ground: Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán

Visits: 1

Date: 18th February 2017

Match: Sevilla - Eibar 2-0 (Primera División)

Attendance: 33 816

For my annual February trip I was choosing between France (22-26 Feb) or Spain/Gibraltar (17-21 Feb). Once I realized it would be virtually impossible to get a ticket for St Etienne v Manchester U I booked return flights to Málaga in southern Spain. Having been extremely busy at work lately I was looking forward to a few days with football and sightseeing. At 20.25 on Friday evening my flight left Copenhagen airport and around midnight we arrived in Málaga. At 00.50 I then finally arrived at my hotel. First up on this trip was Sevilla v Eibar at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. From Málaga it takes 2,5 hours by train to Sevilla and at 13.10 on Saturday afternoon I was at San Bernardo station in Sevilla. Since I was leaving Sevilla by bus early on Sunday morning I had booked a hotel close to the bus station. From San Bernardo it was only a 10-12 minute walk to the hotel and with Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán being a 20-minute walk away I was more than pleased with the location of the hotel!

After checking-in I walked to the ground for a few exterior pictures. On the rear of the end stands Sevilla FC proudly show off their trophies. The club was founded in 1890 and is the oldest football-only club in all of Spain. In 1946 the club won its only league title but they also have five Copa del Rey titles. The last three seasons Sevilla have won the Europa League, a remarkable achievement. Sevilla have actually won the Europa League five times! Since 1958 the club has played at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, which has a capacity of around 42 000. Once I had taken my pictures I headed towards a nearby restaurant for a very late lunch before setting off for a sightseeing tour of Sevilla. The city is the capital and largest city, pop. 700 000, in Andalusia. During my walk through the city I visited Plaza de España, Torre del Oro, the Cathedral and several other sights before heading back to my hotel. The walk took me around two hours and I have to say Sevilla is a nice city.

Kick-off at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán was at 20.45 and 90 minutes or so before kick-off I was outside the ground. Plenty of home fans cheered as the bus carrying the home team arrived. As usual I entered the ground early and from my seat in the upper tier of the Tribuna I had a good view of the action. The stand is quite steep but that is something I like. In total 33 816 were at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán this Saturday evening. Sevilla are currently third in the La liga table (Eibar are 7th) so an important game for both teams. There were not many chances in the first half but in the 30th minute Sevilla could make it 1-0 after a few really good moves. In the second half both teams had chances to score and the game was by now quite entertaining. It wasn´t until stoppage time the second goal of the evening would be scored though. From a counter-attack Sevilla made it 2-0 which was to be the final score. For being a game in Spain I have to say the atmosphere was quite good. I guess the upcoming CL-game v Leicester City would have an even better atmosphere though. I was back at my hotel short before 11pm and quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow I make the 4-hour bus journey to La Linea de la Conceptión, next to Gibraltar. Having seen the weather forecast I might need a miracle for the planned game to go ahead...