Today was a very exciting day for the Brown Mens soccer here in Spain. We kicked the day off by eating a great breakfast in Hotel Embasadores. The breakfasts at the hotel are amazing. They offer all types of fruits, fresh squeezed orange juice and all different types of cheeses and breads. After breakfast, we headed to our match against Atletico Madrid. The team was extremely excited to get to the game and compete against such a storied soccer club.

We arrived at the Spanish National Team’s training ground and got the game under way a few minutes late. After a slow start, we were able to match the level of play of the Spaniards. During the first half, senior midfielder Taylor Gorman aka “Sweet Lewww” thumped home an absolutely stunning strike to put Brown up 1-0 on the Spaniards. The second half was a battle, but with 20 minutes to play, coach Pat Laughlin brought in subs Tom Arns and me (Voltaire Escalona), which proved to be a good decision. Just minutes after being subbed into the match, Arns made a dashing run down the right wing and was able to cut the ball back to Voltaire who crashed the net and slotted the ball in the back of the net for the second score of the match. The game would end 2-0 in favor of Brown and we left the field confident and happy with the result. From the field, we went straight to the Spanish Museum of soccer.

In the museum, we were fortunate enough to walk see and read all about Spain’s rich soccer history. We saw trophies like the Spanish Cup and the World Cup. Getting pictures with the actual world cup was a very great moment for me and I will remember that for the rest of my life. 

From the museum we went to the Santiago Bernabeu (the Stadium of Real Madrid) and we got a tour of the stadium. We got to walk all around to different sections of the stadium including the bench and even the locker rooms! It was really cool to see the stadium and learn about the history of Real Madrid.

After touring the Bernabeu, we went to our teammate Pepe Salama’s house where his family was nice enough to offer us soft drinks and food. They were excellent hosts and the team truly enjoyed hanging out in their beautiful home.

Some of the team then went shopping and went out to different areas of Madrid to explore, while others rested up.   We all had a great time in Madrid and were ready to head off for Barcelona.

- Voltaire Escalona