This match was my eagerly awaited first experience of a live football match in Latin America, a Friday evening game between the modest Club Puebla and one of the league's biggest clubs, Cruz Azul of Mexico City. The home side play their matches in the Estadio Cuauhtémoc which is based on the outskirts of the city, a very striking stadium due to it being wrapped in blue and white panels which looked incredible lit up in the evening sky as we made our way from downtown to the stadium. The game itself was pretty entertaining, Cruz Azul were clinical and scored a great goal on the stroke of halftime before stretching to a 3-0 lead in the second half. Puebla deservedly pulled one back late on to add some jeopardy to the closing stages, but Cruz Azul looked fairly comfortable and held on for a convincing win.

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Despite the atmosphere being a little different to what I had anticipated, I have no doubt that some of the other stadiums in Liga MX produce a ferocious atmosphere, and it was still a really great experience overall. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting about football and drinking beer with some of the locals, who even insisted on buying me a pint in what was one of the many acts of kindness I experienced in Mexico.

One of the main reasons I have always been fascinated with Latin American football and in particular South American football is because of the atmosphere. In truth this aspect of the experience was slightly disappointing, and I felt like elements of the atmosphere and stadium environment seemed more like an NBA game which was fun but not what I'd expected. In fairness, I was probably slightly misguided in expecting a crazy atmosphere at Puebla's stadium. The difference in size between the clubs was really noticeable and despite it being a home game for Club Puebla, the majority of fans in the stadium were supporting the away side.