Rio de Janiero is not the safest city in the world - hardly a headline in today's world, but for those intrepid travellers like myself who are drawn to daydreams of tanning along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, getting amongst the atmosphere of a soccer [football or "futbol"] match, and the dancing the night away and being absorbed in the glitz and glamour of the Sambadrome Carnival, then that fact becomes a mere detail. What happens in Rio is much different to what happens in our first world Western countries.

Last month I attended a Brazilian soccer match, which is a unique cultural experience and certainly one for the bucket list! However, if you are attending a match I recommend going with an organized tour. Why? Because of what can happen when things go awry. I went and saw a local futbol match with my squad, and in true festive style we all bought jerseys just outside the stadium. Actually across the road from the stadium, from a man who pulled shirts out of a garbage bag in a fuel station carpark… legit right? As we enter the stadium and follow our guides to our seats and about 20 minutes prior to the match starting, the air is already filled with the sounds of chants, songs and there are locals decorating their seating areas with the local team's colours. (Unfortunately we weren't able to attend a match in Maracana Stadium as it was being used for Olympics preparations). So here we were in Engenhao Stadium getting ready to watch the Botafogo home team play.

We are in a sea of black and white jerseys with consistent movement and chants. Giant flags wave dotted throughout the crowd. The locals are just as entertaining as the match - if not more so! They seem to have an album of anthems that they are singing and chanting consistently. Although I can't understand what they're saying I start to recognise when to yell "hey!"

Then, our team are approaching the goal to score, he dodges the opposition, he kicks - it looks like he's going to score… but then the opposition goalie catches it. Howling screams and deafening boos erupt from the crowd! The local in front of me looks like she is going to cry, defeated she buries her head on her friend's shoulder. These Brazilians' sure are a passionate culture!

In the distance in the sun, there is a sea of tanned torsos watching the match also. These guys are just wearing shorts, as they have their shirts hanging out their back pocket (Stereosonic-style).

At half time, the military police come out and line the field with dogs. It is then that I notice that walls to the soccer field separating the crowd are about 3 metres high…

You see - to put these games in perspective, I'll tell you about an article I read a few years prior. It was an incident that occurred at a local soccer match just before the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was a local soccer match in Rio and a referee red carded a player, the player refused to leave the field. The referee stabs the player (yes you read correctly, stabbed) and then angry mob fans run onto the field and behead the referee…

So you can imagine my nervousness when the referee at this match made a call and all the locals around us made this eruptive sound of booing and hissing.

This match was safe and everyone was relatively well behaved. Our team won - phew! At the end of the match, a Botofogo player threw up his jersey over the fence to the crowd. There was a slight brawl that lasted all of 5 seconds before one of the military police ran and opened the fence with his dog, and then the crowd ran in all directions.

We were safe, being high up in the seating and were escorted out of the stadium by our guides.

It was a great experience and an amazing atmosphere for be a part of the energy that continues for the entire 90 minutes and more! But please, if you are planning to go to a futbol match, please go with a guide / tour group.

Love Lauren xx