This was another special day for me – although I am a Tottenham fan and now Real Madrid fan ;), every football fan knows how special Old Trafford is. It’s up there as one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world alongside the Bernabeu and the Camp Nou.
So this month, I made a trip to England to catch Manchester United play against Tottenham. That’s the beauty of living in Europe, right? As someone from New Zealand, the closest overseas country is probably Australia which is a 3.5 hour flight away. Here, I can get to Portugal in an hour and England within 2. So I took advantage of this and flew to Manchester and met up with a friend from New Zealand to watch a game at Old Trafford.
Although the game ended in a miserable loss for Spurs, it was so cool to be in Manchester. And now that I have a lot of understanding about Spanish football and its culture, it was really interesting to compare it to what football is like in the UK.
For instance, in England, the game felt a lot faster pace and a lot more physical, whereas in Spain, I find that many teams tend to rely more on patient possession and technical skills and players (not always, of course). Also, I saw many Man United fans (and Spurs fans) make quick chants about players – with many being quite vulgar and sarcastic whereas in Spain, I don’t hear as much of that and more booing, whistles and songs.