Experience of a Madridista in Russia

I can hardly call myself a lucky person. I don’t usually win lotteries. If I have to take a guess in choosing between an empty box and a box with money, be sure the empty one is what I’ll choose. So when a Moscow club made it to the Round of 16 of the Champions League, I had never dreamt it’ll be Real Madrid who they would draw. Can I be that lucky? Really?

My colleagues had never before seen me scream so loud and jump like a kid in the office. I was following the draw on twitter, making sure no one notices as I was supposed to work, and couldn’t hide my emotions when I saw “CSKA Moscow – Real Madrid” on my screen. I’m surrounded by people who are not much into football, but when I screamed Real are coming to Moscow, even my colleagues knew something humungous was happening.

From that day on, time seemed to drag on unbearably slowly. First, February 6 seemed to be the D-day, when they’ll start to sell tickets. Then as soon as I had my precious tickets in my pocket, February 21 was all I could think of. There were so many talks about Moscow weather; you could every day read about the weather in Marca as if they were some meteorological site. I’d never seen so many Russian articles about Real Madrid, and also articles about CSKA Moscow in Spain reached a new level. It felt so good and Real Madrid seemed to be closer than they had ever been.

Then, the moment I saw Arbeloa’s check-in at the Sheremetievo airport, my heart started beating faster. Pity me, I couldn’t go to the airport or meet the team outside the hotel, as I was sick and sulking at home taking tons of medicines trying to stay alive for the dream game tomorrow.

I don’t know whether it is Madrid who bring luck to me or it is a coincidence, but a couple of days prior to the game, my friends inform ed me that there was a chance to watch the game from a box where it was warm and comfortable. So when the D-day finally arrived, I was at the stadium 2 hours before the kick-off in a warm room with a perfect view of the lush green but artificial grass field.

About 1 and half hours before the kick-off, 3 players in yellow entered the pitch. They started warming up with Silvinio Louro and I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Later on, other players from both the teams arrived on the field. I was so worried that I might miss out on some dream sights that I just kept pointing my finger at the players and screaming their names at the top of my vocal cord. Our blue training outfit looked so gorgeous! My friends must have been thinking that I have gone insane , which might be not far from the truth.

And as the warming up ended, the big screen at the stadium showed the players lining up in the tunnel and ready to enter the stadium and give peace to the eyes of the thousands & thousands of faithful followers. I couldn’t control the stupid kid like smile which had covered most of my face as I saw the teams stand in line. And then the Luzhniki stadium was left enchanted by the Champions League anthem which doesn’t give any one a chance to stay aloof. I don’t know what’s so special about that anthem, but it gives me goosebumps even when I watch games on the television set. Hearing it live in the stadium left me shivering with excitement and yes, Real Madrid players on the pitch added to the excitement.

What emotions I felt during the game are really difficult to describe. First I felt miserable on being so close yet so far from my team. Then I felt worried when I saw Benzema limping off the field and just wanted our players to finish the game without any more injuries. CSKA Moscow happens to be the only Russian club I like and if they had drawn any other club, I would have been at the stadium rooting for them with 100% support. My friends were divided into two groups, pro Madrid and contra, which made watching the game more fun.

You could really see that players did not show their best on the pitch. The talks on the artificial grass are not just mere talks. It is really slippery and harsh on the players. This grass feels totally different from natural grass where falling is not so painful, running fast is easy and incoming tackles don’t always comes along with an injury. You could feel Madrid felt uncomfortable on the pitch and looked comfortable with the 0-1 score.

By the 90th minute many people started leaving the stadium to get to their cars and escape the famous Moscow traffic. Most of them did not anticipate anything could change in 2 minutes of injury time. I really feel sorry for them as they missed out on the moment they were actually waiting for. What a shame to spend 2 hours in the cold praying for CSKA Moscow to score and then miss the moment and excitement when they actually managed to score.

As for me, it felt like we lost. When we went outside, CSKA fans were all over the place happy as if they won the 2012 UEFA Champions League. No one really thought CSKA could display such a decent game. It was their first official game of the season after the lengthy winter break. Most of the fans can’t even pronounce the name of Wernbloom, as he had been signed not long before the game. And here he was now, scoring an important goal against 9 time Champions League winner Real Madrid and making Russia believe not all is lost and making him an overnight Russian star.

Hearing our players being booed at the stadium and seeing the opponents’ fans so happy to score, I felt an urge to be at the Santiago Bernabeu. It felt as if I belonged there. Who knows, maybe if Madrid really does bring me luck, I’ll soon be watching them play at Bernabeu in comfortable weather conditions where no one will make Iker feel disappointed by a conceded goal.

- So that was the story of Anita who cheers for Madrid living in Russia