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ES Soccer Thread


Sticksboi05

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6 hours ago, techboy said:

So, I just did something incredibly impetuous and I bought a way too expensive ticket for the semifinal in Barcelona (but it's expensive because I hit refresh a bunch and snagged one from the team in row 12 of section 103 behind the bench, so at least I'm not being gouged by resellers... I'm being gouged by the club).

 

Pretty excited, and still a little puzzled that I care this much.

 

Visca Barca!

 

@ €119, the face-value ticket I have for Wednesday was scandalously expensive to begin with. Even with L'pool subsidising the difference after putting Barcelona's up to the same price for the second leg after Barca refused to budge/ have any negotiation, €88 is still utterly reprehensible. Like Utd the previous round, the most expensive we've ever paid for a non-final. All for the 'privilege' of being as high up and far away from the pitch as is possible. 

 

For a club that pertains to be of the people and adhere to a working-class ideology, Barcelona never have been much better than Madrid in many regards. 

 

 

 

Happy you bagged yourself one. We're out Tuesday through Thursday. Enjoy your trip. Take extra care with the pick-pockets and muggers at all times if you've not been to Barcelona before and aren't aware. That's always been the one major downside to a stunning City. Particularly on the Ramblas and streets going off there. The Ramblas is good but touristy/ pricey. Somewhere like the gothic quarter and Barceloneta are good areas but I'm sure you'll have a blast whatever you get upto. 

 

Hail. 

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1 hour ago, Gibbs Hog Heaven said:

Happy you bagged yourself one. We're out Tuesday through Thursday. Enjoy your trip. Take extra care with the pick-pockets and muggers at all times if you've not been to Barcelona before and aren't aware. That's always been the one major downside to a stunning City. Particularly on the Ramblas and streets going off there. The Ramblas is good but touristy/ pricey. Somewhere like the gothic quarter and Barceloneta are good areas but I'm sure you'll have a blast whatever you get upto. 

 

Oh, I bagged a ticket. I didn't set out to get one this expensive (they're priced from 119), but literally the only non-VIP ticket (which run 925 euros and up) ended up being, as I noted, section 103 row 12. As far as I can tell, it's 12 rows behind the players bench (and the VIP seats that are down there). It might actually be too close to the pitch for a great view, but the atmosphere should be incredible.

 

Thanks for the thoughts, but Barcelona is one of our favorite cities, and we've been travelling to Europe for 20 years*, so we're very careful about protecting personal belongings from pickpockets and such... Although there's a funny story to that, because the one place I HAVE been pickpocketed/kind of mugged is in fact, near the Ramblas.

 

I'll offer you some in return, even though you likely know this as well. Be careful. The Boixos Nois were banned from the stadium in the 90s (I think), but they still gather and march before the match, and they're a bunch of skinhead fascists these days (which is disgusting especially given the club's history and role in Catalunya) who routinely end up clashing with police, but I'm sure they'd be happy to try to crack a few Liverpool supporter skulls if given the opportunity.

 

And, speaking of police, the Spanish police are apparently known for roughing people up, and that also extends to the rent-a-cops that are stewards at Camp Nou.

 

I hope you have a great time, but given that you'll have a great time regardless, I also hope you'll be making the "Still a boss trip and the journey is what it's about" post. 😃

 

*My wife and I are actually having our 20th anniversary in a couple of weeks, so I'm taking her along (though not to the match), and this is an unplanned anniversary present as well.

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4 hours ago, Gibbs Hog Heaven said:

Take extra care with the pick-pockets and muggers at all times if you've not been to Barcelona before and aren't aware. That's always been the one major downside to a stunning City. Particularly on the Ramblas and streets going off there.

 

As I mentioned already, we've been going to Europe once or twice a year for 20 years now, and we're always careful with our stuff. I wear clothes with hidden security pockets for cash/credit cards/passports (I highly recommend the Jeans Classic from Rohan, for example*) and my wife uses a money belt.

 

A few years ago, though, we were leaving our hotel pretty early to go to the train station, and on a side street of the Ramblas we were approached by two apparently drunk guys. I was tired so probably not as alert as I might have been, and one of them came up to me asking for "fire", waving a cigarette. Then he grabbed me and spun me around like he was trying to dance with me. He took a long time, I think, because he couldn't actually find anything valuable, and he finally settled for my cell phone. Then he yelled profanity at me, and took off running down the street.

 

The problem for him was that it was a very old phone with a cracked screen that I was about to replace anyway, and to make matters worse, I realized it about 10 seconds after he ran off. So, I used my wife's phone to lock mine out, turned on the max volume alarm, and put a message on the lock screen saying "You are bad at stealing. Find another job".

 

It was a little inconvenient not having a phone for the rest of the trip, but no big deal. So that was "kind of" a mugging, in that it was a little physical, but funny too.

 

*The security pocket in those jeans is hidden well enough that when I got them, I looked for it (because I knew it was there), and couldn't find it for weeks, even knowing where it was supposed to be. I had convinced myself I was mistaken, when I accidentally found it after a trip. So it's pretty good, and big enough to hold my passport, a couple credit cards, and some cash.

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On 4/27/2019 at 8:21 AM, SkinInsite said:

Epl should just send 2 team to CL next season.

Are there two teams from any other league in the semi finals of either European competitions? How did Madrid and Juve look against Ajax? 

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So that was an amazing experience, worth every penny and more, even though it was a lot of pennies.

 

Honestly, the score was the icing on the cake... I had decided "worth it" even early on. The atmosphere was incredible, I was ridiculously close to the pitch, and as a bonus I was caddy corner to the Barca supporter end with the bass drums (three... Never seen anything like it) and the flags, so I was very close to all the action.

 

Chanting Messi's name was a bit awkward, because the Catalans use roughly the same tone US fans to MOCK people (Hextall... Hextall...), so I guess that was culture shock, and I can't do the whistle, so I couldn't boo, but overall, fantastic fun.

 

Which is good, because there's almost no way I could pull it off again.

1 hour ago, RichmondRedskin88 said:

Nevermind 3-0 wow Messi being Messi 

 

I was sitting roughly even with him where he lined up, and as I noted, I was probably 20 rows behind where the coaches stand (but a bit offset).

 

When the drums started up for the clap Barca fans do when Messi has a free kick chance at goal, I joined in, but I thought "No way. Too far."

 

I seriously thought it was going to be a pass.

 

Unreal.

 

 

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