By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – English Championship club Bournemouth, not so many years ago on the verge of extinction, have managed to pull off a remarkable coup by persuading Real Madrid to visit their modest south-coast home for a prestigious pre-season exhibition game on 21 July.
The newly-promoted club, back in the second tier of English football for the first time in 23 years, will welcome the nine-times European champions for a Sunday evening kick-off, the first game in Madrid’s pre-season schedule programme.
Madrid are expected to field some of their biggest names including Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Kaká – plus others who did not feature in the Confederations Cup in Brazil — but there is a price to pay for watching them, with some fans being asked to pay £60, three times more than usual.
Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell hailed the fixture as “a landmark moment” for the Football League and defended the somewhat controversial ticket hike. “I don’t think that’s a big price to see a team like Real Madrid in action,” he said.
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