A quick Google search for ‘Barcelona’ returns a results list headed by the city’s football club instead of the city itself. The technicality of why this happens is more to do with the way Google Search Engine biases results based on links and popularity of content instead of a true understanding of what one is actually looking for. This being said, in this case, I find Google’s preference of the football club over the City relevant for the reasons shown this video http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2012/nov/22/fc-barcelona-catalonia-independence-video.
més que un club
Walking towards the stadium, I was surprised by how modest it looks. It sits there almost invisible. The Camp Nou has near 100,000 seats (98,787 for stats sake) – I was expecting to see it from everywhere, towering above the surrounding area. It slowly comes into view and quickly disappears out of view as you leave the stadium. This was the first time I was going to watch FC Barcelona play at home, and the first time I was going to visit the stadium.
Tickets, sweet tickets
Up and close to the stadium, I absolutely loved the ticket collection gates. It felt like those stalls had been there since the beginning of time, and what goes on behind the windows is only known by the ticket officers. I was also surprised that a spur of the moment decision to buy tickets the week leading up to the match would be so easy, and so cheap (I bought two tickets for 83.00 € – including card fees). This shock was quickly explained at kickoff when I realised the stadium was not at capacity. In writing this article, I can check what the average capacity is at the Nou Camp. I probably would have been surprised had I seen this before the match agaisnt Celta de Vigo, but the 71,235 (taken from http://www.stadiumguide.com/figures-and-statistics/lists/europes-highest-attendances/) does not surprise me. Some logic and you can appreciate it being hard to fill a stadium that large week in, week out. For some reason, this doesn’t stand out on TV, but perhaps I just don’t pay attention to the empty seats when watching Barca on telly. I will keep a look out next time I watch them play a non-title challenging team.
The stadium itself is in a compound with surrounding walls. The difference between outside and inside the walls is night and day. I was taken aback by the modesty of the stadium from the outside. Sponsorship (for example, Qatar Airways was plastered everywhere), merchandise stores, restaurant franchises filled the inner walls, giving it a very ‘North American’ feeling. That was my first impression anyway and probably a consequence of the gate we came in through. Walking around the ground, towards our entry stall, the stadium darkened and the age of the stadium shone. Probably a reflection on me, but as a way of showing where my interests lay, I only took one photo of the area (I call it the commercial hub of the stadium) we walked into but took about 10 of the age-old reflection of the stadium. One thing I absolutely loved were the badges of the different FC Barcelona supporters clubs that were plastered all around the stadium walls, just above the stalls.There must be 100s of them on display – I had never see anything like this before at any other stadium.
Barcelona Supporters Clubs
Our seats were literally on the top row (Boca GENERAL -547, Row 26, Seat 24). Climbing the stairs was similar to other older stadiums I have been to. I call them raw. They are the football stadium stairs. The serve one purpose – to get us in, high. Not to sell anything. There is an echo. They vibrate as you climb up. All of that that was there; you feel the stadium walking up there stairs. Camp Nou has that.
Getting to the top, I had a peak out in the direction of the city. We were high up, facing away from the sea and towards the mountain. This is the North stand or GOL NORD. I did some research before choosing north or south stand for my tickets. I wanted Barcelona to be attacking our way in the second half. I couldn’t find this information but from reading a couple of match reports, I guessed that Barcelona attacked this goal in the second half. In this case, I was right. I would be interested to know if this is always the case…(?).
It is fair to say that I have been in big football grounds before. I didn’t think the size of a stadium could surprise me the way Camp Nou did. The moment I went through boca 547 and could take in the sheer size of the stands, and the pitch in comparison; I was blown away. I couldn’t stop saying how big it was. I took countless pictures to try and capture what my brain was telling me it was seeing. Unbelievable. Looking at these pictures now, they don’t do it justice. You have to go there to appreciate it. I will share one shot in any case so you can see where we were sitting:
Porta 89, Boca 547, Fila 26
So, the match. Barcelona lost 1 nil. Suarez’s home debut; he could and should have scored. Barcelona were unlucky to not win, but Celta de Vigo didn’t deserve to lose. I won’t say more.
A few things that caught my attention in the build up to kickoff. There were a lot of non-Spanish and non-Catalan speaking people in the stand. There was a lot of English people there. In some sense, it makes sense, cheap football tickets and cheap flights means great holiday (my flight into Barcelona that morning cost me 30 Euros). No wonder I get all these last minute offers saying Barcelona flights + football match for £100. Interestingly also, there were very few ground staff and security where we were sitting; and beer purchased inside the stadium can be taken to the stands.
Now, it may very well be the stand that I was sitting in, but I found myself wondering where the atmosphere was. Where was that pre-match buz that hovers over football stadiums? That buzz that means ‘yes! My team are about to play, and I can’t wait’. In this particular match, there were 71468 people in the stadium. I have been to football grounds with 10 times less people and had a better atmosphere. The ground was quiet throughout the match. You can see from the picture above how high we were; it is not an exaggeration for me to say I could hear the Celta de Vigo players shouting orders at one another when defending a late second half free kick from a dangerous position. This is when Barcelona were chasing the match. Where is the intimidation – home advantage!
There was a small section of the stadium, directly behind GOL SUD, where Barcelona fans were chanting throughout but the sounds didnt traverse the stadium at all. Once or twice, it caught on and the other sections chanted ‘Barca, Barca…’ but it quickly faded. I have to admit, I didn’t chant once but I was, of course, supporting the underdog. My personal favourite moment was the sole Celta de Vigo fan who went loco when his team scored what was a very well taken goal. I loved the way everyone in our stand looked at his celebration in good humour and there was a lot of laughing going on afterwards.
On this one occasion, I would say the atmosphere was a let down. I intend to go again soon but will probably reverse my seating and try to be a bit closer to the pitch and perhaps closer to those noisy bunch behind GOL SUD (if that is where they always are!)
I do love the fact that the majority of seats in the stadium are uncovered. From my personal experience, it is not uncommon for the occasional storm to hit Barcelona. It would be interesting to be there on a rainy day.
The guy in the next picture didn’t move all match. I could feel his frustration without seeing his face.
One final thing, because leaving a stadium is always a massive pain, it is worth a comment. Getting out of Camp Nou was very quick and the stadium very quickly goes out of view.
monkeypost3 