Russia - Spain 01.07.2018
I managed to get the tickets on 1/8 finals World Cup 2018, but I absolutely didn't expect that it would be Russia versus Spain. I got the tickets long before first games started and I had no idea who would be on the field. Though Russian team is the one I expected there the least.
It became crowdy already in metro. There were lots of people everywhere till the very end of the event. It's not a joke to gather 80k fans in one place.
There were many different beautiful joyful people already prepared for the game.
Even foreigners decided to support Russian team.
It was the first time in my life I ever got to the stadium. It is very big. It's HUGE. On TV it seems much smaller. Like a toy.
When you attend the game on the stadium you root for the team much more compared to TV cast. You can't see the number or last name of the player with the ball, but once it's close to the gate everybody stands, screams, you also do that. That's the joy. There might be also a goal, but sometimes you can figure it only by the peoples reaction (:
There are huge TV screens where they repeat goals and some important moments, but they don't do it for every tiny moment from all possible angles like on TV cast.
During the break people take pictures. There were so many people from all over the world. It's cool!
Many people (mostly FIFA employees and volunteers) came here for work. They couldn't really enjoy the game as visitors. Especially those in yellow vests. They spent the entire game faced to fans. Poor guys.
The game was quite tensed. Spanish team strongly attacked, Russian team was in complete defense. It turned into penalty shoot-out. I was really lucky with the game: full time, additional time and shoot out! What a game!
In the end we made it. We won the game. There was no end for people's happiness (:
Spanish were disappointed. Very. Many of them literally cried. I can understand them.
So the celebration begun.
Fans sang a lot, hugged, kissed. Exchanged T-shirts with Spanish fans. Though Spanish guys got lost in the crowd quickly enough and I even had an impression that everyone around is a Russian fan.
So it was time to go home. Though 80 thousands fans also wanted to do so. It is quite a challenge to let 80k people go home at the same time. Thus we were sent to different metro stations walking. Even nearest roads were closed for cars. Though it all wasn't important.