The last game of this Spanish trip was in Almeria for a La Liga clash with surprise package Girona. I’ve been to more than sixty grounds in Spain but most of them are lower tier clubs. I’ve added a few top-flight grounds more recently though and with the aid of the futbology App I was pleased to see that I’m now on fourteen of the current twenty.
It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Almeria from Fuengirola. I parked twenty minute’s walk away from the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos and by following a couple of blokes who looked as if they were going to the match I made my way to the stadium through an industrial estate.
I’d already bought a ticket online for fifty euros. Top flight football is expensive in Spain, although I can recall paying as much as that, and occasionally more, nearly twenty years ago when I was living in Ferrol.
There were some good food options around the perimeter of the ground but the queues were long enough to deter me and I ended up with a chorizo baguette from the concourse instead. It was ok, but I should have joined a queue outside.
Girona have a couple of ex-Boro player’s in their ranks. You’ll know about Stuani, who has reached legendary status with the Catalonians, but you’ve likely forgotten about Espinosa. I certainly had. To save you googling him, he played a handful of games for us in Karanka’s Premier League season. Anyway, Stuani was on the bench and Espinosa wasn’t. That was because he’d actually signed for some Colombian team a few days earlier. So just the one ex-Boro player at Girona.
With the game being an early kick-off, Girona would have gone top with a win. Almeria were rooted to the bottom of the table, so far adrift that I don’t think any result would prevent them from dropping into the second tier at the end of the season.
There was a pre-match round of applause for the police. As they were lined up with their batons and guns looking into the crowd the clapping was pretty much unanimous. The stadium had a lot of space between the pitch and the stands. If the pitch were lowered, then another few rows of seating could have been added to fill the gap.
Somewhat surprisingly, Almeria had the best of a goalless first half. Stuani made an appearance twenty minutes into the second half but failed to perform his usual heroics. One of his teammates picked up a red card for a DOGSO challenge ten minutes from time and I suspect that Girona were content with the point after that.
Despite the lack of goals, it was an enjoyable game, and a point a piece seemed scant reward for each team’s efforts.
Trail of the Lion King 