Boca Juniors are an establishment in world football. The blue and gold of the side from La Boca, Buenos Aires is famous worldwide. From Maradona to Riquelme to Carlos Tevez, some of the biggest names in Argentinian football have played in the world-famous La Bombonera.

La Bombonera is famous for its shaking of the stands as it’s crazy fans shake and bounce. In the Bombonera you can see signs saying “La Bombonera no tiembla, late” – ‘The bombonera doesn’t tremble, it beats’.

This kind of atmosphere has been seldom in the UK since the disasters of Hillsborough, with standing areas in UK stadiums only returning recently. With all this being said it’s clear to see why La Bombonera was on my list of stadiums to visit during my time in Argentina.

Luckily for me I would be in Buenos Aires in time for the biggest rivalry in football. El Superclasico – Boca Juniors vs River Plate. We were lucky to get tickets in La Popular, the stand when the ultras of Boca reside. The guy who sold us the tickets said in the ground we would have to speak Spanish only and we would have to learn some of the chants to have the best chance of watching the game with no problems.

The Boca fans don’t like tourists in the ground, for them Boca is a way of life an La Bombonera is a place that doesn’t have room for pretenders…

We arrived in La Boca 5/6 hours before kick off and the party had already began. Fireworks, flares, drums, dancing – you’d have thought Boca had already won the game. Nonetheless when it was time to head to the stadium, once the stadium was in sight our guide turned to us and said “game time, Spanish only now!”

Once in the ground you could feel the immensity of the occasion. The chants, the flares, the shaking of the ground. I had found football paradise.

Then, in the middle of day-dreaming, and ripped back into reality, when an ultra turned me around. He looked me up and down and I was petrified. I remembered the horror stories I’d heard of tourists (especially English ones) at football games in Argentina and wondered how I’d tell my mum what was inevitably about to happen to me. I had remembered my guides advice and tried to blend in, and so in a bud for survival launched myself into the chants as this guy sized me up, pretending to be unwavered by his analysis.

He then stopped me and handed me a flag. I stayed in character waving the flag, and his attention went to the next person, my friend Dom. Dom also passed with flying colours and he moved on. Mission complete.

We were then dragged and the anxiety started all over again. Being held by the scruff of my neck I could only see the feet around me, until I was sent down the stand to the front of La Popular, to be a flag bearer amongst the ultras.

Despite Boca losing 0-2, it was by far the most fun I’ve had a football game. Being amongst the ultras was the adrenaline rush of a lifetime. Something that had I not have learned the chants or Spanish before entering the ground, could have gone the other way. The chanting, the dancing, the flares and the drums didn’t cease from the minute we entered La Boca that day until hours after the game. The experience of a lifetime.