Madrid has gone football crazy this week, and so they should. For the benefit of the one, or possibly two people who haven’t heard, this year’s UEFA Champions League final will be fought between Real Madrid (playing to win their tenth title) and Atlético Madrid (trying to win their first). It is of course a unique event in that it is the first time that two teams from the same city have contested the final. Finals between teams from the same country, yes, but from the same city, never.

There will be about 75,000/80,000 Madrileños making the journey to Lisbon, about 75% of these using the main A5 motorway to travel across Spain and Portugal – a distance of around 650km (400 miles). In addition to some 1,000 buses, there will also be 10 special trains, all packed to the rafters no doubt. Possibly the most puzzling statistic is that only 34,000 of the travelling fans actually have tickets to enter the stadium. In the desperate scramble to get hold of tickets one man offered his car in exchange, whilst a young woman actually offered her body (for an hour)….. Now that’s what I call devotion to your team!

Like most of the rest of Spain I will simply be kicking back in front of my TV, with beer in hand. (I’m afraid to admit there are just a few occasions when albariño doesn’t quite cut it, and this is one of them).

Madrid has gone football crazy this week, and so they should. For the benefit of the one, or possibly two people who haven’t heard, this year’s UEFA Champions League final will be fought between Real Madrid (playing to win their tenth title) and Atlético Madrid (trying to win their first). It is of course a unique event in that it is the first time that two teams from the same city have contested the final. Finals between teams from the same country, yes, but from the same city, never.

There will be about 75,000/80,000 Madrileños making the journey to Lisbon, about 75% of these using the main A5 motorway to travel across Spain and Portugal – a distance of around 650km (400 miles). In addition to some 1,000 buses, there will also be 10 special trains, all packed to the rafters no doubt. Possibly the most puzzling statistic is that only 34,000 of the travelling fans actually have tickets to enter the stadium. In the desperate scramble to get hold of tickets one man offered his car in exchange, whilst a young woman actually offered her body (for an hour)….. Now that’s what I call devotion to your team!

Like most of the rest of Spain I will simply be kicking back in front of my TV, with beer in hand. (I’m afraid to admit there are just a few occasions when albariño doesn’t quite cut it, and this is one of them).