BENFIIIIIIIIIICA

Forget everything you ever knew about cheering at a sporting event and toss it out the window. Run it over with your car. Feed it to the dog. It can't help you.

Saturday night we went to Estadio da Luz to watch Benfica vs. Sporting Lisbon, Lisboa’s two main futebol clubs. We had spent most of last week collecting information to better prepare ourselves for things like riots and accidentally falling out of the stands and onto the field and potentially causing mass chaos. One can never be too careful about these things. This is what we came up with:

1. Don’t wear green and yellow if you’re sitting in the Benfica section. Forget your personal preferences and go with the masses.
2. Don’t bring food.
3. Don’t forget your ticket.
4. Wear comfortable shoes.
5. If there’s a mob scene, hug the wall.

Well, there were no mob scenes. In fact, if it weren’t for the riot police stationed around the stadium I might have said that the locals were just pulling our legs. But the comfortable shoes were a great piece of advice, since we spent the majority of the night on our feet screaming and dancing and doing the wave. But we’ll get to that in a minute…

We had to leave a couple hours before the game because we (correctly) assumed that the metro would be crowded. With our spare time to kill, we ran around like tourists looking for Benfica scarves, the ultimate accessory. Forget what color you’re wearing on your shirt. What color are you wearing on your arm, or around your neck, or hanging off your bag, or waving in the air? Giant thunder clouds rolled in right as we made our way to the stadium so we were looking forward to a night of getting soaked, but luckily our nosebleed seats were well-covered. The roar from the stadium could have easily been confused with thunder, though. Even an hour before the game the noise pouring out of the stadium was mind-blowing. We were walking around the outside trying to get to the right gate and we got stopped, along with hundreds of others, by the police. They had created a barrier around a few of the gates. Turns out they don’t let the Benfica fans and the Sporting fans just filter in on their own time because they don’t want to open the door to potential mobs. I was just stunned. How cool! I mean, potential danger aside, I thought that was just so cool that they had riot police and a whole system to keep people separated at a futebol game. In the states, soccer games never draw that kind of riotous crowd, sure. But even American football games don’t require entire police squadrons at each entrance complete with face shields, night sticks, and the whole deal. Once inside the stadium, the Sporting fans were delegated to one section and police guarded each row from the Benfica fans surrounding them. I would not want to be supporting the away team at a Benfica game…

Our seats were on the third level so, surprise! We climbed lots of stairs. Honestly I had been getting worried that I’d go a whole day without climbing at least 100 stairs. Thank you Benfica for fulfilling my needs. We spent the 45 minutes before the first kick learning all of the cheers. Well, attempting. We figured out that one of them was saying “SLB! SLB! SLB!” for Sport Lisboa Benfica, the official name of the team. And then we screamed “Benfiiiiiiiiiiiiiiica!” in response to the very enthusiastic announcer. And we danced and sang along with what we thought were the right words to “Sou Benfica.” Honestly, I could be way off on that, but those are the words I sang. (Sou Benfica=I am Benfica)

By the time the game actually started I could already feel my voice going. But who cares? This is Lisboa! This is Portugal! This is Benfica! Every strained vocal cord reminded me of how unbelievably cool a place I am in. And every five seconds the game reminded me of this too. It began with an eagle—Benfica’s mascot—flying around the stadium. Giant posters with the players’ pictures dropped down around the perimeter and spewed confetti everywhere. We strung out our scarves like banners and head-bopped along while everybody sang what I can only assume is the team’s anthem or something like that. And the cheering was so loud for this part alone that I didn’t even realize the game had started until almost 10 seconds in.

Remember how I told you to forget everything you know about cheering? You don’t know anything unless you know how to cheer like the Benfica fans. The crowd was constantly cheering. Every time Benfica took possession the crowd erupted. Every time they got close to the goal the crowd erupted. Every time Sporting screwed up, the crowd went nuts. I have never heard such enthusiastic crowd response in my life and unless I find a way to make it to Brazil, I don’t think I ever will hear anything like it. When the cheering had died down to a dull roar, some section would start shouting “Ben-fi-ca” or “Benfiiiiiica” or “SLB!” and it would start all over again. Some guys in our section started the wave and after a couple of tries, it circled the stadium at least five times. They also sent a wave of feet-stomping, which added even more noise to the mix. We waved our scarves around; we screamed insults at the ref when we didn’t agree with a call (or just when everyone around us started screaming and flicking off the other team). Here, instead of booing, they whistle. Loud, high-pitched shrieking whistling. Even more than wanting to be able to speak Portuguese, I wanted to be able to whistle like that.

No goals first half, but lots of standing up to scream at the ref and lots of close shots. I was absolutely blown away by the physical duress of the players. The goalie effortlessly punted the ball straight to the other side of the field, landing just a few meters from where the Sporting goalie was standing. Every penalty kick happened so quickly; these players don’t waste time positioning the ball. They thought fast, they moved fast. It was all a blur, emphasized by the fact that I had forgotten my glasses. Typical. And then in the second half, something amazing and terrifying happened.

Benfica scored. Twice.

I say terrifying because the first time, I was mid-sneeze when they scored and the explosion of sound sounded like an actual explosion. I screamed because I was so startled by the wall of red that fired up around me in my half-second delay to start cheering. I’m pretty sure I got brushed by a few scarves but it didn’t matter because I was accidentally brushing mine across the Sporting fan sitting in front of us as I waved frantically in the air. His girlfriend was outright smacking him with her Benfica scarf. He was a bit miffed. The second time I was a little more prepared and was on my feet so fast I nearly fell over. The goals set us off into fresh rounds of all the cheering and singing, and in the corners of the stadium they set off giant red flares and threw them onto the field.

An adrenaline rush beyond all measure. It is beyond my literary/human power to find any more words to describe the experience. When the game ended, 2-0 Benfica, we took our time filtering out of the stadium and stopped for a spontaneous dance party and photo shoot in front of the empty field. A few people stared, but we were by no means the craziest or dumbest-looking fans there so we didn’t attract too much attention. The main entrance/exit to the stadium area is a long tunnel covered in red and white tiles and as we walked through, we whipped out our scarves for another round of fresh singing.

On our way back to the dorm some guy rolled down his window and said “Benfica!” when he saw our scarves. And in the front lobby a boy and girl were getting their keys and I shouted “Benfica!” to Sergio the security guard. The boy in the green Sporting scarf turned around and glared.

Victory. Another utterly wonderful day in Lisbon. And my window shade, which has been broken for two weeks, is finally fixed. It doesn't get much better than that.

Ate logo!

p.s. It actually could get much better than that if the residencia installed a pastelaria downstairs, but that's really all I can think of. Ciao!