I went to Rayo Vallecano… and now I went to Atletico Madrid – Real Madrid’s direct rivals. But not just for any normal game – to watch the Champions League Round of 16 first leg against Tottenham, my team. And I wasn’t there just as a fan – I was in charge of the crazy job of handing the official referee match coin (which will be tossed to see which team gets the ball/side of the pitch).
Before the game, I was invited to go pitchside where I watched the Atletico Madrid team warm up – I absolutely love Julian Alvarez as a player (and I always get told I look like him) – which was really cool. And then the time came where I met the official referee for the game and gave him the match coin. It really is insane to think how lucky I am to be in these positions and I think a big part of it is because I took the big jump of moving from New Zealand to Spain to pursue my education and content creation in this football media landscape.
Although the actual football match was not great at all… Kinsky, our goalkeeper, slipped twice to give the game away to Atletico Madrid… with the final result being 5-2, I still had a blast at this game. The Atletico Madrid stadium is incredible, the fans were singing non-stop and I hope to be able to come watch a few more games before the season ends.