The return at Santiago Bernabeu: 560 days without football!

The return at Santiago Bernabeu is a great event for Real Madrid and not only. The whole world of football has missed this stadium in this last one year and a half time. Fotball is finally back at the Santiago Bernabéu. The madridista stadium has not hosted a match since 1 March 2020, when Zidane’s team got the better of Barcelona in the El Clásico LaLiga clash. Celta are the opposition for this historic meeting and fans will be in attendance to admire the progress on the Santiago Bernabéu's spectacular transformation which will make it the greatest stadium in the world.

It seemed impossible, but Real Madrid have succeeded in getting the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu ready for this weekend's match. With the work half done, the doors will again open this Sunday, September 12, against Celta Vigo. But what are the numbers that accompanied the transformation of the stadium? The first and the most difficult calculation to make is that football has stayed for 560 days away from Santiago Bernabeu...!

A sanitary warehouse during the pandemic and Storm Filomena: During these 560 days, the Bernabeu has been through it all. Trucks and cranes took over, and it looked like anything other than a football stadium. For a few months, it was made available as a sanitary warehouse by the club at the worst points of the pandemic. The Bernabeu also saw the biggest snowfall of the century when Filomena left the Spanish capital painted white and work had to be stopped.

An average of 800 workers a day: Every day, 800 people went to work at the Bernabeu to get the job done at every level, from the pitch to the access towers, the internal tunnels and the five-story underground carpark. There has even been an entrance created for buses, though it's not ready for use yet. The work on the Bernabeu has been incredible. It cost 575 million euros and has been financed via a loan with a 2.5 percent fixed interest rate. It will be finished in January 2023.

The structural steel of 120 Airbus a380 aircrafts: The steel used in the refurbishment weighs 33,170,154 kilograms, which is the equivalent of 120 Airbus A380s. The concrete used covers 57,545 cubic metres, which is equal to the entire volume of water in the Retiro pond. The simultaneous load capacity of the cranes used was 4,106 tons, which is equivalent to lifting 400 Cibeles statues at the same time.

A hectic month: In order to have it ready for the Celta Vigo game, the last month has required an incredible effort from all involved. Now the grass has finally been laid and the doors are set to open again. It’s the time to show the world of football the spectacle that they have missed for so long!