This almost summer heat in Seville’s October is best worn with a skirt. And the ‘Tartan Army’The army of Scottish fans who traveled around Europe following their team with their elegant skirts and incredible thirst took over the capital of Seville. The day before the Caledonians’ match against Luis de la Fuente’s team. At the foot of the Giralda, cheerful Scots befriended the locals at night with a sense of normalcy and humour.
From ‘La Fresquita’ to ‘Las Columnas’
At the bar ‘La Fresquita’, The waiter stirs the incense that crowns this little place, considered a temple of brotherhood on Mateos Gagos Street. 60-year-old Scotsman asked the reason for the pallium That voice rocking majestically on the Bell on the bar’s television. “Is it now?” he asked in surprise. “No mate, it’s a video. We’re waiting for Betis to start,” joked one of the site’s regulars in Sevilla style. The venue offered a unique mix between Seville youths in their kilts and Scottish fans.
Apart from the special warnings given by the police to someone who overdid himself with beer in the face of such heat, no incidents occurred. “This is a well-intentioned hobby. “They drink a lot, but they’re not violent,” one agent said. A few meters away, at another famous venue, ‘Las Columnas’, the British were standing strong in a corner and Manolo, a lifelong waiter, was bringing out the typical dishes of the place. Winery in the Santa Cruz district. Cod rolls, spinach with cheese sauce, “the best tortilla in Seville” and… “more Cruzcampo, please.” Don’t miss the “icy” beer and good humor on Wednesday night, which seems like a Friday because it’s the eve of the Hispanic Heritage Festival. The center of Seville was bustling, dominated by William Wallace’s descendants.
The capital of Andalusia naturally undertakes these recurring invasions every time the Spanish football team chooses it to play their matches. AND There will be 54 times that will be celebrated tonight. In fact, of the 746 matches the team played, only Madrid hosted more matches than the capital of Andalusia with 70 matches. The last match, played in Benito Villamarín in June 2022, was less remarkable as the Portuguese moved cautiously in the city. Months earlier, in November 2021, an invasion of another well-known mob, the Vikings, occurred as Sweden visited Seville to face Spain in a World Cup qualifying duel in La Cartuja. The match ended 1-0 with Morata’s goal, and this victory earned Luis Enrique’s team the right to participate in the World Cup in Qatar.
Seville has been the fixed base for eleven years
Among all national team matches played in Guadalquivir There is one more symbolic than the rest: the historic 12-1 (12-21-83) against Malta that sealed qualification for the 1984 European Championship in France.. This victory resulted in Seville becoming the permanent venue for the national team’s qualifying matches for eleven years. Sánchez Pizjuán and Benito Villamarín hosted qualifying duels from 1984 to 1995 (World Cups 86 in Mexico, Italy 90 and the United States 94, as well as the European Cups 88, 92 and 96). This tradition was broken after the match against Armenia in 1995 (June 7, 1995).
But it all started in 1923, specifically on 16 December, when Spain played its first match in Seville, playing at the old Reina Victoria football ground. The playing field used by Sevilla FC in its first phase. The pitch accommodated 8,000 spectators in a single wooden stand, with the south end consisting of mounds of sand on which spectators stood to watch games. There the team, dubbed the ‘red fury’, made their debut against Portugal, with a hat-trick from Oviedo player Zabala and the debut of the first two Sevillian internationals (Spencer and Herminio).
Interesting facts stand out that for all these years, Sánchez Pizjuán, located in the Nervión neighborhood, a Seville temple that nowadays resembles Sarajevo, many of whose streets are rising with endless work, has never lost in the 24 matches that Spain played. there. Or 65 football players who tied their careers to the city wore the national team jersey for the first time in Sevilla. These include legends such as Iribar, Fusté, Rifé or Juanito, world champions such as Gerard Piqué, Xavi or Puyol and, more recently, players such as Iturraspe or Deulofeu.
Number 66 may debut this ThursdayA man from Malaga, who played for Betis and was not part of the green-white youth team because there was no spare room at home, had a blast in Granada. Bryan Zaragoza could be a great innovation for another famous ‘Sevilla’, Luis de la Fuente, who managed the Pizjuán group with the Sevilla jersey and today could bet on the young winger to tickle the Scots.
“Brian what?” asked a Scotsman wandering around the Clover area behind the “brim” Plaza del Salvador on Wednesday night. asked. A Seville woman who crossed paths with one of the five thousand Scots who occupied Seville last night said: “My soul is Bryan Zaragoza, but not Latin, Greek, Malagan. He is the one who will cause you trouble.” It ended in anger.. Four thousand people will be in La Cartuja. You’ll see the rest in a tavern near the Cathedral, lost in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, or wherever thirst and fate take them. And there they will be greeted with the most beautiful smiles from this Sevilla, which from time to time allows itself to be invaded without causing any problems.