Both teams for Sunday’s game in Madrid are on Spanish soil. The Cincinnati Bengals landed around 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, November 4, and have the day off. The Atlanta Falcons, the designated home team at the Santiago Bernabéu, went straight from the airport to Real Madrid’s Valdebebas training base for a light practice of about 30 minutes. Madrid is one hour behind Cairo, so the Bengals touched down at about 11 a.m. Cairo time. Kickoff is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Madrid, which is 4:30 p.m. in Cairo.
The Falcons post a short clip of their arrival in Spain, in Spanish.
The Falcons set up at Real Madrid’s base
Atlanta, which left on Tuesday, is using the club’s Ciudad Real Madrid campus in Valdebebas, on the north-east edge of the city, as its base for the week. Wednesday’s session was mostly mobility work, jogging and the first throws, with no tackling or contact. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said the team would normally work more with the ball on a Wednesday, but he wanted his players to shake off an eight-hour flight. He sees a “great benefit” in arriving early to adjust to the time zone and spend a few days together as a team.
Stefanski’s remarks, translated here from Spanish-language wire reports of his news conference, were about the setting as much as the football. “We love being here and we love being the home team this week. We feel very welcome in this country,” he said. He called the training centre “a wonder,” said the logistics behind a trip like this are “enormous,” and added: “We would love to see a lot of red and black walking around Madrid.” He said he plans to go out with his family on Friday.
The Falcons post photos from their landing in Madrid.
What Stefanski said about the Bengals and his own stars
Atlanta is 3-5 after a 16-0 loss at Tampa Bay in heavy rain, and Stefanski said this week’s challenge is different: Joe Burrow and an offense that scored 43 points on Sunday. He praised Bengals coach Zac Taylor and said of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, “I don’t know if there is anyone else in the league with two players of that level.” He said the Bengals can run if a defense plays light in the box or throw if it puts eight men in it.
On his own team, he called running back Bijan Robinson a player “designed in a lab,” a constant threat for explosive plays who also gets the hard yards. He said he keeps seeing quarterback Michael Penix Jr. grow as a player and as a leader after the four-interception game in Tampa, and that every player is “drawing lessons” from the season so far.
The injury picture is mixed. Defensive end Samson Ebukam and return specialist Zachariah Branch, both with hamstring injuries, will miss the game and did not make the trip. Pass rusher James Pearce Jr., back from an eight-game league suspension, was on the field in Madrid and is expected to play, although Stefanski has not said how much.
The Falcons post a clip from their Wednesday in Madrid with the line “This is a big deal for us.”
The Bengals: landed, rested, practising from Thursday
Cincinnati flew overnight after Tuesday’s practice and, as laid out in our Bengals travel story, trains on Thursday and Friday at the Spanish national team facility. The Bengals are 5-2 after Sunday’s overtime win over Tennessee. They will wear white jerseys, orange pants and white socks on Sunday, the sixth time the club has used that combination.
The league’s message: a “mini Super Bowl”
Rafa de los Santos, the NFL’s president in Spain, said both teams arrived on Wednesday after visiting Madrid earlier in the year to look at venues. The idea, he said, is to recreate “a kind of mini Super Bowl,” with events through the week, a pregame and a postgame, and this year a more direct connection with partners and fans. Tickets, he said, stay on sale until the day before the game, because seats held back for television and production are released when they are not needed. His own prediction: “a super competitive game, a high-scoring game” that is decided on the last play.
Madrid week from here, with Cairo times
The free NFL House and NFL Experience programmes are in our Madrid fan-week story, and the other game weeks are in our Munich and Madrid guide. Our Week 9 schedule has the whole weekend in Cairo time.
| Date | What is happening | Madrid time | Cairo time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue Nov 3 (evening) | Bengals and Falcons both leave for Madrid | — | — |
| Wed Nov 4 | Bengals land around 10:00 and rest; Falcons land and hold a light practice at Valdebebas, then Stefanski’s news conference | Bengals landed about 10:00 | About 11:00 |
| Thu Nov 5 | First Bengals practice at the Spanish national team facility; official NFL Shop opens at the Bernabéu | Practice time not published | — |
| Fri Nov 6 | Second Bengals practice; NFL House opens at the Casa de las Alhajas and NFL Experience at Plaza de España | House 12:00–20:00; Experience 10:00–19:00 | House 13:00–21:00; Experience 11:00–20:00 |
| Sat Nov 7 | Second day of NFL House and NFL Experience | House 12:00–20:00; Experience 10:00–19:00 | House 13:00–21:00; Experience 11:00–20:00 |
| Sun Nov 8 | Bengals vs. Falcons at the Bernabéu, Falcons as the home team | Kickoff 15:30 | Kickoff 16:30 |
Quotes and details come from the Falcons’ Wednesday news conference at Valdebebas, the Bengals’ and Falcons’ own posts and the NFL’s Spanish office, as carried by Spanish and U.S. wire reports.
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