Visits:1
Atletico Madrid 2-0 PSV Eindhoven (Champions League Group Stage, November 23rd 2016)
Stands I’ve Been in: Anfiteatro Lateral
Ticket Price (1st Visit): 62 Euros
Attendance (1st Visit): 37,891
Address: Passeo de la Virgen Del Puerto, 67 28005, Madrid
Visits:1
Atletico Madrid 2-0 PSV Eindhoven (Champions League Group Stage, November 23rd 2016)
Stands I’ve Been in: Anfiteatro Lateral
Ticket Price (1st Visit): 62 Euros
Attendance (1st Visit): 37,891
Address: Passeo de la Virgen Del Puerto, 67 28005, Madrid
Transport
It's simple enough on the Metro. Piramides is the nearest Metro stop, but the queues afterwards are horrendous as it is only a small little station.
Ground exterior
Food & Drink
A few cafes and bars along the walk from piramides and on the corner outside the ground. For drinks the majority were just buying cans from the shop and standing about in the street, and the police had no issues with it so fair play! There was a little place called Offside opposite the ground that was basically just selling beer and soft drinks out of a fridge, but it also had walls and walls full of old Atletico pictures and news clippings!
The players line up in front of the Preferencia
Inside the Ground
This is the final season at the Calderon after 50 years. And the place is literally crumbling. The steps in the upper tier had visible cracks all over. Still, its a shame as its a pretty impressive place on the inside, with 3 sides creating one big steep looming bowl, with the Preferencia opposite separated from the rest. The other 3 sides are mostly uncovered, and despite mostly perfect views all around, I found a very large barrier right in front of me sitting on the front row of the upper tier, so soent most of the match unsure as to whether I should lean forward and watch through a letterbox, or strain my neck and sit bolt upright...
The Fonde Sur
Atmosphere
This was my second Spanish ground, and it's fair to say that the Spanish don't do atmosphere the same way as most other places Ive been in Europe. There is a large group behind the goal in the lower of the Fondo Sur, and they really never ever stop. Everybody else seems quite reluctant to join in though. Spanish fans seem much harder to please than us as well!
The Fonde Norte celebrates the second goal
Anything Else
The ground quite famously has a major motorway running underneath the main stand! Also, be aware that pretty much everything is confiscated at the ground. It is the first place Ive ever been where I had my camera taken off me (and God knows why, as when everybody has a camera on their phone these days, and stewards were happily taking pictures for people inside the ground during the game) so I had to leave it in the storage area, located on the opposite side of the ground, and then of course had to walk all the way back there through the crowds afterwards to get it back. The vast majority of the items people were there picking up at the end were umbrellas, bags of souvenirs from the club shop, and motorbike helmets...
PSV fans let off a smoke bomb in the upper tier of the Fonde Norte
Overall
It was worth going to, and I did enjoy it, but it felt a little disappointing. The fact the game itself was pretty disappointing didnt help, it all felt a little flat, even if the ground itself is impressive.
