Pre-game

Firstly, the Atanasio Girardot Stadium is easily accessible with great transport links from Medellín’s public transport service. It gets busy so be sure to get there with plenty of time to spare. Getting to the ground early is also a good idea because it can give you plenty of time to buy a ticket and soak up the atmosphere before kick-off.

I found the atmosphere surprisingly relaxed and there were reps giving away free energy drinks. If you want to cash in on an unlimited supply of caffeine this is the time.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that I found the ticket buying process an absolute nightmare. If you thought that things were as simple as going to the ticket office and asking for a ticket, you’d be very wrong.

To buy a ticket, you need to sign up for a club account using some form of ID and email. Once you’ve done this, you can then buy a ticket from the club shop using that account.

I thought that I could do the whole process online but, if you don’t have a Colombian bank account, your bank is unlikely to authorise a Colombian payment (usually due to suspected fraud). The whole process ended up taking me ages.

For the most hassle-free experience, make a club account online before getting to the ground. Once you get there, immediately going to the club shop for a ticket.

Once you’ve got all that sorted, you can kick back with a cold beer and look forward to the game.

Atanasio Girardot Stadium

The Atansio Girardot Stadium is an underwhelming sight from the outside. It’s just quite a basic, open stadium.

To compensate for the outside, the views from inside the ground are spectacular. Medellín is a city surrounded by rolling hills covered in greenery and provides an amazing backdrop for a game of football. As night fell, there was a thunderstorm and it made for a pretty epic occasion.

The atmosphere from the fans lives up to South American billing. Despite the stadium not being full, the ultras’ section was lively and caused the stadium to shake throughout the game. Fans hung from the top tear’s railing and the ultras had infectious energy and for large parts of the match managed to get the rest of the ground on their feet.

One disappointing part of the match day experience was being unable to buy beer in the ground. You can buy the 0% beer but it's a bit of a waste of time. It’s a shame as the ground is set up perfectly to enjoy a cold beer in Medellín’s temperate climate. The food is basic, hotdogs and burgers of poor quality quality but paying $12,000 COP (£2.12) for a hotdog, it’s hard to complain.

Make sure to bring cash as card isn’t accepted in the ground.

Standard of football

Watching Premier League football week-in, week-out, sets high standards- Atlético National falls well short of those standards. Nobody will be surprised at that, Atlétic National tend to lose their best players to Europe and Brazil, Davinson Sanchez just being one example..

As for the football, first touches regularly run away from players and passes rarely go to feet.

However, the standard was good enough to be entertaining and if you are in town, I’d recommend going.

In terms of match day experience comparisons, it’s a good event, but don’t expect the heights of the English game.