Football—a sport, a passion, a dream for millions of kids around the world. And when we think about La Liga—the best league in the world—we imagine it to be the stage where the best players of the world come out to perform.
Apart from being a television host and a social media influencer, I’m a huge fan of La Liga and it was an honour and privilege to be appointed as the ambassador for La Liga fans around the world. Things turned magical when La Liga and Sevilla FC invited me to Seville in Spain to recognise me as an ambassador along with giving me a personal experience of what it is like to witness a La Liga encounter first-hand.
Day 1
As soon as I reached Seville, I was given a quick brief about the La Liga schedule, which was followed by one of the most premium wine tasting sessions I have ever experienced.
Day 2
The next morning, I visited the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, the stadium of Sevilla FC, where I was asked questions in the form of a press conference by the La Liga team itself about my passion for football, my prediction for the match and the craze for La Liga in India. I believed they were happy with my answers. Later, I was taken to a restricted area of the stadium, like a small museum, where all the winning trophies of Sevilla FC were present. I also got a chance to visit the players’ locker room where I was gifted a personalised Sevilla FC jersey with my name printed on it. This was indeed a proud moment for me.
Thereafter, I got to experience the players’ practise session ahead of their big match against the very famous, Real Madrid C.F. Post the practise session, I got to interact with Sevilla FC’s star and ex-Man City player, Nolito who didn’t know English but then football has no language and happily posed for photographs.
Day 3
The next day, I took a beautiful city tour of Seville. I visited the most talked about spots in Spain like Casa De Spanial and Basílica de la Macarena to name a few and I was bowled over by the beautiful architecture this city offers. I also got a glimpse of the very famous Flamenco dance along with relishing the very famous tapas.
Day 4
The next day was the most special because it was finally the day of the match between Sevilla FC and Real Madrid C.F. My hotel was walking distance from the stadium and I could see the kind of craze people had for football in this mesmerising city. Since I was in the city hotel as the players, I could feel they were going ahead into the game with a lot of fan pressure to perform. Finally, it was time for me to walk towards the stadium so to feel the energy that La Liga has created inside the fans and I was expecting a close match. Before the game started I was presented with a momento by Pablo Blanco, one of the legends of Sevilla FC, known for finding the best talent for the team.
The next instalment of this saga was witnessed by over 38,000 people and getting a chance to briefly host this famous encounter was such a great feeling. I will never forget this in the years to come. The match living upto any first time La Liga match goers expectation turned out to be an enthralling encounter with the team I was supporting, Seville FC coming out 3-2 on top of Real
Madrid. It was even special for me because I was that one individual in attendance for whom it was a culmination of a long journey from other side of the world, India, and in is vision I have decided to spread the magic of football all over the world being a La Liga ambassador.
After the match ended, a few major surprises came in for me. I got the opportunity to briefly meet players and coaches from both teams including the Real Madrid coach, French legend, Zinedine Zidane. It was an extraordinary experience to get a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into making the players on the field get there in best shape to perform for us. In addition, all the players also happily posed for photographs with me post the match.
I was lucky to click a few pictures with the cast of the very famous Game Of Thrones who also couldn’t stop themselves from coming and watching this crazy match. I feel that this was truly a remarkable experience and has been like a fantasy.
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