Exciting and American-style Sunday at the Santiago Bernabéu. The Real Madrid stadium hosted a regular NFL league game for the second year in a row and turned Castellana into another street in the United States. Food trucks, more security checks than in Spanish football, hamburgers and nachos at twelve in the morning and celebrations of the athletes 'Spanish style'. Bengals star Ja'Mar Chase celebrated one of the afternoon's touchdowns by 'fighting' a teammate. Prelude to the comfortable victory of the Cincinnati team against the Atlanta Falcons, who were playing at home in Concha Espina (17-34).
Before the game, yes, the NFL wanted to have a detail with the Spanish public and was in charge of carrying out several tributes, first social and then sporting. First, the American league had a memory for the victims of the Adamuz and Urda train accidents and for the groups and security forces responsible for working on the fires that devastated Spain this summer. For the victims and those affected by the accidents, an emotional 'moment of silence' was held, which is what is usually done in the United States instead of the Spanish minute', with a announcement over the public address system, the images on the Madrid video scoreboard and applause from the stands.
And then 11 representatives of 11 disaster support groups took to the grass under the motto '11 as 1'. The recognized entities were the Civil Guard, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), the Canadair Seaplane - Pilot of Group 33, the Fire Department of the Community of Madrid and its helicopter pilots, the Corps of Forest Agents, the Madrid 112 Emergency Call Reception Center, the Immediate Logistics Response Team of the CAM Civil Protection Volunteers (ERIVE), the CAM Medical Emergency Service (SUMMA112), the Municipal Police of Madrid and the Spanish Red Cross. A representative of each group came out onto the grass and received the love and applause of the public in the great emotional moment of the afternoon.
Then, just before the 'kickoff' (start of the match), the sporting tribute arrived, completed with some fireworks coming from the sides of the upper area of the Bernabéu, with the roof closed on Sunday afternoon. An American-style show at all levels. The NFL wanted to reward the achievements of Spanish football and five representatives of the five titles that our country's national teams have won in recent times appeared on the Bernabéu grass. Cucurella and Athenea del Castillo with the men's and women's absolute World Cups, Laia López with the women's under-20 World Cup and Silvia Cristóbal and Thiago Pitarch with the two under-19 European Championships. A sample of Spanish dominance in current football.
The preview of the meeting also served as a mass bath for Florentino Pérez, acclaimed by the entire public when he appeared in the box and applauded during his small return of honor to the stadium, accompanied by Isabel Díaz-Ayuso and José Luis Martínez Almeida, president of the Community and mayor of Madrid. Almeida even dared to throw a pass with the match ball. The head of Madrid was this Sunday a man dedicated to the stadium project, who taught everyone he could while walking around the field.
The reality is that the Bernabéu has improved its setup for the NFL from one year to the next, although the power went out for a few seconds on an attacking play by the Bengals. Access has improved, leaving aside the queues of a few months ago, the surroundings have enjoyed greater comfort for attendees, with food trucks and stands to purchase league merchandise, and the interior has repeated the excellent image of the debut. In the stands, 78,660 spectators, 50 more than last year.
Some well-known people were in the VIP areas, such as Ferran Torres, Laporte, Tchouaméni, Militao, Khedira, Iker Casillas or Carolina Marín, representatives of the sport. And also well-known faces from the world of culture such as the singers Pablo López and Dani Fernández or the actor Miguel Ángel Silvestre.
