It has been revealed why the seats behind the goal at Real Madrid’s home turf Santiago Bernabeu are completely covered up. Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1-0 in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 to claim a 6-2 aggregate victory and advance to the quarter-finals.
At the end of the game, Real Madrid played ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ over the speakers as Liverpool’s players applauded the 1,800 fans in the bleachers who had made the trip from England to Spain. Real Madrid’s iconic stadium can accommodate more than 80,000 fans, but there were no supporters in the lower tier stands. And here’s the reason why the lower tier stands are covered up and no fans are allowed there.
Unsold seats or UEFA rules not the real reason behind Real Madrid covering the seats
Many have speculated that the reason Real Madrid’s seats behind the goal are empty, is because of some UEFA rules, or either those seats going unsold. However, it was not due to unsold seats or UEFA regulations. Real Madrid are renovating their stadium, which has been their home since 1947, and have spent time playing at the 6,000-capacity Alfredo Di Stefano stadium – where the women’s and second teams play – while work on the Bernabeu is completed in 2020.
They returned to the main stadium after more than a year away, but one section of the arena is off limits due to the ‘underground greenhouse’ being built to aid in the development of a groundbreaking retractable pitch. The technology is currently in use at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which means that in the future, different surfaces will be able to be used for a variety of events such as concerts and sports such as tennis, basketball, and the NFL.
According to Alley Sports, the removable pitch is being protected on the lower level by new lighting and irrigation systems. Real Madrid requested that their first three games of the current season be played away from home, and that request was granted. The current capacity is 81,000, but the massive upgrade, which includes a retractable roof, video scoreboard, and new private boxes, will increase it to around 85,000 in 2023/24.
Florentino Pérez’s plans to completely renovate the Santiago Bernabéu and transform it into an ultra-modern, cutting-edge stadium were approved by the General Assembly in September 2018. Within months, the club had secured a €575 million credit loan from US banks, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, repayable over 35 years at a maximum interest rate of 2.5% and annual payments of 29.3 million euros.
As soon as the season ended in June 2019, the remodelling process began. A licence for construction and renovation work was granted for the next three and a half years, and work was expected to be completed and the new stadium fully operational by late 2022 or early 2023.