Hosting a Champions League final is an honor that the city of Bilbao has taken very seriously. A walk through the city is enough to see how they have dedicated themselves to the game: banners on each street lamp, a giant replica of the final ball – decorated with motifs from the city such as the architecture of San Mamés or the traditional Bilbao tile – in the popular Circular Square, benches transformed into benches with red seats and blue canopies scattered throughout the streets…
Although the most symbolic initiative was the installation in March of a bronze statue that represents, in life size, Nahia, “a girl who looks excitedly at San Mamés.” An initiative that was sponsored by the Basque FC Barcelona player Irene Paredes: “I have also been that girl who dreamed of playing Champions League finals in places like this,” she said.
Tomorrow will be the third final to be held in Spanish territory. The first was in 2010 in Getafe, with just over 10,000 fans watching Turbine Potsdam beat Lyon. In 2019, Anoeta hosted the most atypical final, without an audience due to the pandemic, with the French team lifting their seventh crown after beating Wolfsburg. The one from San Mamés hopes to break the attendance record for a final, with its more than 53,000 seats sold out for weeks.