The Copa from inside

Rain and breakfast at La Calderona

Half past ten in the morning. It’s raining at La Calderona. The shower has cleaned the atmosphere while the players and coaches are having breakfast with the waiters wearing red-white neckerchiefs. Bread, coffee, milk, yoghourts, fruit… Everything in order, the cameras are waiting for the players to make their entrance, the early worms have their jerseys ready to be signed and the final is in the air.

Also on the phone everything is normal. Some ask about the menu and others about the times. Some wake you up at 2 in the morning to ask you if in Bilbao tickets can be bought and others to check if it’s true that the RFEF will put 4,000 tickets on sale which were unsold in Barcelona.

It smells of final, it smells as though it’s going to be a great game and just like twenty-five years ago our supporters have worked hard to be original when it comes to dressing up and festively invading the city and, mostly, its bars. Just as a quarter of a century ago, there are scalpers and the urban myths are all around and also on the way the coaches are registered just in case someone has been left behind whilst having a nap. Life goes on, the locals say they’re behind us, therefore against the blue-maroons, and just like a quarter of a century ago a new generation will have something to tell their grandchildren about.