Between December 1930 and April 1931, Gimnasia's team, which later would be known as "El Expreso" (in English, "The Express"), toured Europe and Brazil. Gimnasia became the first Argentine club outside Greater Buenos Aires to compete in Europe, and the first ever to play in Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy. In the European portion of the tour, Gimnasia played twenty-two games, winning eleven and losing six. On February 15, 1931, Gimnasia defeated Sportverein München 4-0 at Munich, in a game remarkable for being the first match played by an Argentine team on a snow-covered pitch. On March 8, Gimnasia won 3-1 over "AC Sparta Praha" at Prague, a team that was arguably the strongest in Europe at the time, and that no South American team had yet defeated. Gimnasia also won its matches against three of the most important European clubs: a 3-1 victory against Real Madrid (at Madrid, on January 1, 1931), 2-1 against FC Barcelona (at Barcelona, on January 6, 1931), and 1-0 against Benfica (at Lisbon, on March 29, 1931).