(7th March 2021)
On a gloomy Sunday morning in early March, I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed after a busy few days and was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to head to a football match again. This would only be my second game in the last 2 months, due to the local Covid restrictions, which meant that all matches had to take place behind closed doors. The primary reason for this was because of the growing concern over the U.K. variant of the virus, which had spread into Andalucía in January.
The rules were relaxed in the first week of March, meaning that the following weekend would be the first that I’d be able to attend football again. I watched a match the day before this article’s featured game, with a Saturday evening visit to Atlético Marbella (which will be reported on in a seperate article), but I thought that I’d take a more in-depth look into the town and football grounds of Estepona for this piece.
A Sunday midday kick-off is the time of choice for many of the football clubs in the region, so there’s always plenty of options available. Today was no different, but I wanted to stay as local as possible, paying a visit to my current hometown team, Club Deportivo Estepona. They hosted Alhaurín de la Torre, in what had the prospect of being a close and important encounter for both sides, as they looked to avoid being in the bottom section of their league’s subgroup. The club announced on social media that they were allowed to have 400 spectators in the ground for this match, which is still significantly lower than they were averaging during last season’s promotion campaign, when they went up from the 5th Tier División de Honor Andaluza.
This would only be my second visit of the season to the Estadio Francisco Muñoz Pérez, with my other visit for Estepona’s first pre-season match that had fans attending, a 1-1 draw against Algeciras CF (read more on that game here – https://adayinthelifeofafootballtherapist.sport.blog/2020/12/21/amistoso). I continue to follow the club from afar and venture into the town regularly, since it’s a nice and relaxed place to visit, also visiting the first team’s former ground, Campo San Fernando Municipal, whenever possible to watch Estepona’s Senior B team in the 8th Tier Málaga regional third division. If you ever get a chance to visit the town, then I’d encourage anyone to try and “tick-off” both grounds if possible, as they represent a nice contrast between the more tradional type, enclosed Spanish lower level ground and a modern, functional, new build stadium.
My first trip to their old ground was also during pre-season, for an entertaining match against Málaga City’s youth team, which proved to be a heavily possession-based game, where Estepona finished the match strongest and came from behind to win 4-2. The most recent game I attended there was on Boxing Day, which was only scheduled due to it being previously postponed because of Covid cases, whilst the majority of other clubs and leagues were on a winter break. They hosted CDF (Puerto) Banús in a late afternoon kick-off, with the hosts being favourites on paper since they’re looking to finish in the promotion play-offs. At first, this appeared to be a very even game with nothing to separate the two sides, until Álex Ros, who’s recently featured on the bench for the first team, scored for the hosts with 23 minutes of the game played. After the deadlock was broken it looked as though they’d be able to secure the 3 points without much of a threat. The lead was doubled by Miguel after 38 minutes, directly from a wide free-kick which sailed over the keeper and into the net. 2-0 would be how the game remained, with both sides hitting the woodwork but not being able to score another goal, the hosts even missed an open goal in the process. In the end, it did turn out to be a routine victory for the favourites.
Returning to the featured game, I decided to arrive into Estepona early so that I could have a wander around in the peace and quiet, walking away from the coast and towards the stadium. When I got there, I decided to do a circuit around the exterior of the ground, since I was still earlier than anticipated, also taking the chance to have a closer look at the Atheltics Stadium, which is located next door and was only opened around two years ago. It looks impressive on the approach and is unusually raised above the ground, with 2 levels of car parking being housed beneath the stadium’s surface. It boasts one covered seating stand, with a few hundred seats and, by all means it looks like a nice place to watch a variety of sports. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that it’s ever hosted a senior football match, although there was a junior game taking place whilst I was having a look around, so I’ll be keeping an eye out in case anything of interest does take place there.
Making my way next door, I found that the process of getting into the Francisco Muñoz Pérez was straightforward, as I bought my ticket from the kiosk outside the entrance, then had my temperature checked on the way into the stand. The price was a standard €10 for this Tercera Division match, which I was happy to pay as it usually proves to be good value for money. The game was also being shown on local TV, meaning that it had the feeling of an important tie, with the cameras and announcer creating an extra atmosphere, helped by the attendance continually growing as we were approaching kick-off.
The home side had picked up in form recently, but were still not the favourites to win this game. There were a quick flurry of chances for both teams within the first quarter of an hour, as the away side’s Ito went through on goal, only to see his shot go wide of the right hand-side post. The host’s then threatened from a free-kick, with the opposition keeper palming away a goal-bound header. The game entered a long period of stalemate after this point, with neither team taking any risks in possession, in fear of making a mistake which could’ve cost them the all-important first goal. In the 40th minute, Estepona hit the post following a good spell of attacking football and shortly afterwards the referee came into the spotlight, when a clear simulation from an Alhaurín player resulted in a free-kick given and a yellow card for the Estepona defender, much to the displeasure of their fans and management. On the stroke of half-time the deadlock was finally broken, when Pintos found himself open in the Estepona penalty area to tuck a shot into the net, following a long throw-in into the box. The half-time whistle soon followed, with the visitors having the upper hand, leading 1-0. Thankfully, the weather began to clear at this point, but it wouldn’t end up lasting for long.
The hosts responded strongly after the interval and were soon back on level-terms, when in the 52nd minute Cristo got his head onto a deep cross at the far-post, following a patient build-up on the left hand-side of the pitch. The hosts went close to taking the lead twice within the next 10 minutes, but failed to capitalise on either opportunity, disappointingly neither effort tested the goalkeeper when they were in threatening positions. As the game wore on, it started to become more ill-tempered, with several late challenges and a couple of noticeable “off the ball” incidents from both sides that went unpunished. This accumulated to Alhaurín’s left back, Hugo, being sent-off following a booking for a late challenge then a second straight after, presumably for dissent to the referee. That situation proved to be the catalyst for several other bookings in the coming minutes, including for both team’s managers. By all means, it had the feeling of being a very tense match as we entered the final 15 minutes. There would be more goals scored, firstly for the visitors, as they broke away on a quick counter-attack, striker Robert was able to race through on goal and place the ball into the bottom left corner of the net after 78 minutes. Estepona threw everything they had at Alhaurín to try and force an equaliser when, backed by the home fans, they were successful after 87 minutes, thanks to a low right-wing cross being converted by defender Manu Morilla from the centre of the penalty area, with the goal looking like an audacious flick that couldn’t be kept out by the keeper. The overwhelming relief from the hosts was clear to see and as the referee blew the Full-Time whistle, it would be a big point gained for Estepona, deservedly seeing out a 2-2 draw which was a fair reflection of the proceedings.
Once again I had watched a match that proved to be open and exciting throughout, as well as great value for money. After cheering the home-side off the pitch, I made the walk back towards the seafront in the pouring rain, taking the time during my wait for the bus to reflect on my first weekend back watching live football. It had been sorely missed and brought some relief back, as I was able to forget about everything that had been going on for 2 hours and could simply focus on 22 players kicking a ball about on an articifcial pitch. I’m very grateful to call this place my home and I’m really hoping that my family and friends at home in the U.K. will be able to have the same feelings that I experienced very soon.
Chris Sharp
(All photos are taken by me, please can you give me credit if you wish to use my photos)
The Travelling Therapist 