Estadio Osvaldo Roberto

The ground in Sayago has never played down the middle. Estadio Osvaldo Roberto Racing Club de Montevideo bought the land in 1941 and raised the money themselves, brick by brick, through the "Campaña del metro cuadrado".

The club renamed the place in 1948, after Osvaldo Roberto, a founder who had played for them. Before that, everyone called it Parque Roberto.

The pitch is natural grass, kept flat by the same attention it received eighty years ago. There are no running tracks around the edge, just the grass running to the concrete. Capacity figures vary, but the idea is the same: a ground that does not pretend to be a modern arena. It hosts Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana matches.

Training sessions have passed through here, including a Costa Rican side in 2014, but the rhythm has not changed. The club owns the land and the buildings. They have added new locker rooms and concentration areas, but the skeleton remains. When the visitors arrive, they do not roll the dice on playing conditions. They know exactly what they are walking into.