Football Days

Estadio Cartagonova - FC Cartagena

Cartagena 0-4 Celta de Vigo

22/01/11 - Liga Adelante

Att: 8,000

In the summer of 2009 my Dad re-located to Spain and that season his local side, FC Cartagena, newly promoted to the Segunda A (or Liga Adelante, to give it it's official name) came within a whisker of promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history. During my previous visits to Cartagena I hadn't managed to see a match until now. It was a bitterly cold day in the south-east of Spain and a big name was in town, as promotion chasing Celta Vigo came to Estadio Cartagonova to take on play off chasing Cartagena.

FC Cartagena were founded in 1995 following the collapse of Cartagena FC, who were founded in 1919. Until 2003 the club were called Cartagonova FC, but changed it's name following the takeover of local entrepreneur Francisco Gómez Hernández. After being founded in 1995 it took the club 3 seasons to reach the Segunda B (the 3rd tier) and they stayed at that level for the next 11 seasons, narrowly missing out on promotion in 1999 after a play off defeat against Córdoba. Promotion to the Segunda A was secured in 2008/09, following a last gasp victory against Alcoyano in the promotion play offs.

Los Albinegros, as they're known, play in black and white stripes, similar to that of Newcastle United and their stadium was opened in 1988. It was based on the design of Barcelona's "Mini Estadi" and it's quite apparent when you compare the two stadiums. The Stadium was renovated in 2000, with a capacity of 15,105 and is a bowl shaped stadium, with a large upper tier and a smaller lower tier. It has a roof on one side, as seems to be the custom in Spain and in January 2000 it became the first stadium in the Region of Murcia to host an international match as Spain took on Poland in a friendly.

On matchday we got the train from Los Nietos to Cartagena and from there we took a stroll into the city centre. We arrived in the city early, giving us a chance to sample the local bars, of which there are plenty. We worked our way through the city centre, towards the stadium and we got there quite early to get tickets and have a few more beers. After queuing up at the window, we purchased two tickets behind the goal at the price of €30 (£24) and headed into the bar at the stadium, which had plenty of old pictures of past players and matches from Cartagena's history. In the car park of the stadium, some bright spark decided it would be a good idea to erect a temporary bull ring and have a bull fight on the same day as the match. So as we left the bar there were around 5,000 people watching a bull fight, as well as a couple of hundred animal rights protesters outside.

We made our way into the stadium and found our seats, with balloons and napkins waiting for us on our seats. As the teams emerged thousands of balloons and napkins were flung into the air, creating quite a sight for the players. After the pre-match formalities, the game begun, with Cartagena making a bright start to the game. Two very good opportunities were missed and against the run of play, Celta hit them on the break and took the lead after 8 minutes. Things got even worse for the home side 5 minutes later when top scorer Toché limped off the pitch with a hamstring injury. Cartagena continued to press forward and thought they'd equalised, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Watching the highlights in a café after the game, replays showed he was onside, so that was hard to take. Just before half time another swift counter attack doubled Celta's advantage. It was more of the same in the second half, with Celta Vigo happy to let Cartagena have the ball and soak up the pressure, then look to pick them off on the break. They managed it twice more in the second half as Cartagena were well beaten by some excellent counter attacking football from the visitors, much to the delight of the 20 or so Celta fans gathered in the lower tier of the Main Stand who had braved the 1,300 mile round trip.

It was a disappointing result, but despite this the crowd stayed with the team. There were no boos, no whistling, only encouragement and support from the stands. If Toché had stayed on the pitch, it could have been different and if Cartagena's equaliser had stood, again, it could have been different. Celta Vigo were fully deserving of the victory and to me they looked like a team that would be hard to stop in their pursuit of a return to the top flight. They finished the season the season in 6th place and missed out in the play offs to Granada, meanwhile Cartagena finished a slightly disappointing 13th.

I'd never given Spanish football much thought before my Dad moved over there and having seen a few matches over there now, I have to say I enjoy the matchday experience. Cartagonova is a basic stadium, but it has a charm of it's own and FC Cartagena are a cracking little club. I'd certainly recommend it and I've returned on several occasions since.