I arrived from Rosario at the enormous Retiro bus station, which resembles what 'Blade Runner' might have looked like if it had been filmed on the set of 'Mad Max', or indeed vice versa. Fortunately the subway, while intensely hot and a bit grimey, is cheap and quick and it got me into the civilised part of town pretty quickly.
At the time of writing I haven’t really explored Buenos Aires properly. I’m here for a while yet, and at least one future blog entry will contain a lot more detail on the architectural and cultural fronts. What can I write about in the meantime? Oh yes – silly me – I went to the football. The small matter of Boca Juniors v Fluminense, at the Estadio Albert J. Armando, aka La Bombonera. Fluminense are a Brazilian team: this match was in the group stages of the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League (the Copa America is played between national teams).
The big game that everyone wants to see is the superclasico, Boca Juniors vs River Plate, by far the biggest club match in South American football, and a grudge match to make Rangers v Celtic look like an Eton-Harrow bridge tournament. Sadly River Plate rather absent-mindedly got themselves relegated last season, and so there were no league superclasicos this year that I could plan ahead for.
I enjoyed my previous day out at the football, in Chile. This was an altogether different level of experience. The Bombonera stadium is in another fairly scary part of town, and tickets are eye-wateringly expensive for foreigners (like Barcelona, Boca Juniors is member-owned and only members can buy tickets direct from the club), but there was just no way I could say no to the opportunity.
There are many moments from this trip which are already etched on my memory, but I don’t think there has been or will be anything to compare with standing in the top tier at the Bombonera, the stadium already full to bursting and bouncing with noise an hour before kick-off – a 10pm kick-off – sweating in the heat and eating ice cream to stay cool, with the sound and smell of grilling chorizo wafting through the heat and humidity, and the noise, and so much excitement in the air that you could almost taste it.
Sadly Boca lost 2-1 in the end: it was a frustrating night for them, as my compilation of video highlights below will illustrate, but I also managed to video the equalising goal that made it 1-1. One of those moments that reminds you why you’re alive. Still buzzing as I write.
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| Out in the barrio, pre-match. That's my beer on the table. |
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| Room for a little 'un? |
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| La Bombonera |
