Live Event #4
Camp Nou
Following over 24 hours in transit, my father and I finally arrived in Barcelona and we had just under 24 hours to recuperate in time for our first football match of our trip in Europe: Club Atlético Osasuna at Futbol Club Barcelona. The match was situated at a difficult juncture for the Catalan giants, the third in a succession of six that included a staggering four against their primary rivals Real Madrid. This would be the second time I would be privileged enough to watch the Blaugrana in person; the club generally recognized as the best team in the world. The first time was in August of 2009, a 3-0 victory against Athletic Bilbao that confirmed Barca as Supercopa de España champions. The squad has undergone minimal change since then, the core group that won the 2009 Champions League remains for the most part intact.
The unmistakable feature of Camp Nou is its sheer size. Europe's largest stadium in terms of capacity has the ability to seat nearly 100,000 spectators for a football match. Once inside the stadium, it is easy to notice the lack of high priced concession options and the absence of the entertainment options that are present in all North American stadiums in an effort to please corporate advertisers and appeal to a larger (non-sports fan) audience. It is refreshing for a sports purist like myself to attend a game where at least 90% of the attending fans' priority is actually watching the game! Shocking! In Barcelona especially, supporting Barca is not so much a choice as a civic duty, a public demonstration of strong Catalan pride. There is nothing quite like a packed stadium singing the Barca anthem in unison before and after the game.
With Barca looking ahead to their Champions League semi-final encounter with Real Madrid Pep Guardiola chose to rest many of his key players. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Lionel Messi started the match on the substitutes bench and center back duo Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique watched from the stands. Even without half of their regular starting XI Barca were no question the superior team. Twenty-three minutes in, Jeffren whipped in a terrific rolling cross that David Villa expertly slide into the bottom corner for his first goal in 11 matches. Osasuna showed some fight at times and nearly had an equalizer that Barca keeper deflected out for a corner. 20 year old Barca midfielder Thiago Alcantara received a surprise start and left a good impression. He demonstrated exceptional skill and an ability to fit into Barca's dynamic attack. The score at halftime was 1-0 for Barca. As a fan I hoped that Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta would eventually make an appearance in the game; it would have been slightly disappointing if they hadn't. Guardiola didn't wait much longer to introduce one of them, inserting Iniesta for the second half. Not too long after, Messi and Xavi appeared on the touch line for warm up to raucous applause. They both would be subbed on with 30 minutes left to go, Messi for goal scorer David Villa and Xavi for the injured center back Gabriel Milito, an alteration that forced midfielder Sergio to join fellow midfielder Javier Mascherano as Barca's two central defenders.
As soon as he entered the game Lionel Messi didn't take long to thrill the Barca faithful. With his first touch he stopped a rolling ball, flipped it over an oncoming defender and darted down the middle of the park leaving the defender in his wake. Barca continued to probe the Osasuna defence and were finally rewarded when Dani Alves sent Messi clear through on goal and the Argentine phenom finished clinically with his right foot to make the score 2-0 with 3 minutes to go. The goal was historically significant: it was Messi's 50th of the campaign - in 49 matches - and broke Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskás’s previous Spanish league best of 49 goals in one season.
The Camp Nou experience is a must for any fan of the game of football. I was able to take many pictures that I will upload when I return home. Sunday night I attended a match between Barca's handball team and their German opponents THW Kiel which was unlike any sporting event I'd ever attended and Monday night we hope to attend a basketball game between crosstown rivals DKV Joventut and Regal Barcelona.
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