Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid Football Club.

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid.

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid.

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid. I asked my student (a senior partner at KPMG, Spain) if I could take a photo through his office window and he said yes.

From another side. I type this as news filters through that Real Madrid's greatest rivals, Barcelona have just been astonishingly flattened 8:2 by Bayern Munich in the European Cup quarter-finals. The cheers could be heard all through the Madrid evening air as every Bayern goal went in!

The old-look (and iconic) stadium will soon take on a completely different appearance.

Plaza de Lima and the Estadio de Santiago Bernabéu (undergoing reconstruction - desecration in my view - but who am I to decry 'progress'?).

The top tier has already gone and strange towers are going up which will, I suppose, support the ugly new roof thing. I have a few more I will post every few days or so.

An iconic stadium and home of Real Madrid. I thought I had better take a last photo before it is turned into a giant aluminium George Foreman grilling machine. (Thanks to Keith Burton for that analogy! Better than the 'Cornish pasty' I compared it to at first!). I saw the plans a few years ago - I taught English there - so I know of what I speak ...and was horrified! OK, here it is www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pPohc_3dRA I sincerely believe the current building should be preserved as a cultural and architectural icon. But I am too late as the building work has begun and Real Madrid are playing their revived season's fan-less home match programme at their training complex at Valdebebas to the north-east of Madrid and I presume they will play there until 2023.