Tonight's first leg of the Champions League semifinals between Real Madrid and Barcelona will break all media coverage records: 1,200 members of the press have been accredited, including 500 journalists from 132 foreign media platforms, and 80 from Spain. It will be the most watched game in football history. The most prestigious media in the world, will broadcast the Classic and estimate an audience of more than 400 million viewers. Spanish football experts from the Gazzetta dello Sport, Sky, Al Jazeera, Fox, ESPN ... will be tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
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| Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Press Room |
The match will be broadcast live in 37 countries. One hundred and thirty-five commentators in 45 different locations at the stadium will bring the game closer to viewers in Argentina, Chile, China, USA, Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and practically all of the countries in Europe and Africa. Eighteen international radio stations will cover the match. There will also be 71 TV cameras and 100 photographers at the stadium.
In Italy, La Gazzetta dello Sport has spent extensive coverage to the Classic. A team of several reporters, led by the international football expert Paolo Condo, will be at the Santiago Bernabeu and Stefano Cantaluppi will analyze the match. "Mourinho has not left any Italian indifferent. There are two camps: Those who love him and those who hate him. There will be millions of tifossi who want to earn Real Madrid only for Mourinho, and others support Barcelona to go against him", says Cantaluppi. "In addition, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two best teams in the world right now".
In Great Britain people expect which of the two giants of Spain will play against Manchester United in the final at Wembley. Duncan Bishop, British journalist who works on Gol TV, analyzes the impact of the RealMadrid-Barcelona. "In Britain there is growing interest in Spanish football. A Milan-Inter, for example, is a great game, but is not dedicated much extra time to it". Duncan also says: "Another plus, like it or not, is the 'Mou' factor. The British press fell in love with him during his time at Chelsea, and his way to 'sell' thegame helps a lot", he admits.
Asia. The schedule for Asian countries is not the best, but the match will be followed by television. In Seoul (South Korea) and Tokyo (Japan) will be almost four in the morning of Thursday, in Shanghai (China) 2:45 am and in Bangkok (Thailand) 1:45 am. Still, television networks estimate over 20 million viewers in Asia.
