Benfica VS. Olypiakos - 23 Oct 2013

Skipped class on Wednesday and went to catch the first live soccer match of my life! UEFA Champions League Benfica v Olympiakos. Soccer is practically the life of the Portuguese. The people here are divided and affected by the team that they support. In Lisbon the two main teams are Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. The beer choices of the people here are largely affected by which beer company was sponsoring their favourite team. It's really funny. Cristiano Ronaldo was bought over from Sporting Lisbon. Hehs. I felt like my exchange in Lisbon is complete now after catching the match:) Hope to catch 2 more matches, involving Sporting, before flying back to Singapore.

Weiyi went to Benfica Stadium early in the morning to queue for the tickets as a tax number is required to purchase the tickets online which none of us have. Haha. Our ticket was one of the cheapest and it cost 35 euros each.

We were a few minutes late due to the heavy downpour and the match has already started by the time we sat down. I was seriously overwhelmed as there seems to be a lot going on in the field...

The Olympiakos supporters are seated isolated from the rest and there are more guards there to prevent fights or anything violent.

On TV the players look so tiny chasing after a ball (not a soccer fan) but in real life, their legs are super long. 

Look at the cute young supporters! When we were making our way to the Benfica stadium, we saw so many groups of young kids and lower secondary school age children making their way to the stadium by themselves.

Look at all the photographers and their huge lens camping the side that Benfica will score their goals.

I jokingly told Weiyi that if I am bored, I would very much wish that there are handsome guys in the team to keep me entertain before the match and he spotted number 7 -Oscar Cardozo for me. HAHAHA. He is really very good looking but I wasn't bored at all throughout the whole match. Everything was going too fast. 

Very funny old uncle using plastic bag to cover his head. It was raining throughout the whole match.

And... the Olympiakos scored the first goal.

Oscar Cardozo scored a goal for Benfica and made it a draw!

I never knew there are ball boys. I wonder how are they selected. So fun!

Zara man. This is probably how those useless and ugly bubbled vest winter wear are inspired. HAHA.

It's really nice to watch a match live in a stadium! The whole stadium trembles with all the cheering and boo-ing and too many things are going on in the field, there wasn't a moment that I was bored. And we had to watch this match in the heavy rain which was quite an experience too. Haha. More to come! :D

More details on this match here:
http://espnfc.com/uk/en/report/380745/report.html?soccernet=true&cc=5739