Barca vs Espanyol

Camp Nou: Barca vs. Espanyol
12/12/2009

Finally, a chance to see Barca at legendary Camp Nou. We just missed El Classico with Real Madrid two weeks ago, so this is their only scheduled home game during the month while we are here.

Getting tickets. I expected to find tons of tickets online at craigslist.org or the local equivalent, loquo.com. But nothing – not a one showing up. Internet to the rescue – I found a number of ticket agencies. Mostly working out of town, and with wildly different prices. Some wanted as much at 230 euros for a decent seat behind the goals, and almost 100 for the top of the top tier (and that’s a long way from the game at camp Nou. But while walking near the Ramblas (the main promenade in Barcelona), I found a small shop just selling tickets to Barca and Espanyol matches. They offered some 40 euro tickets for the top tier, but said (somewhat mysteriously) that they would have others in a day or so. On Friday afternoon I returned, and was very relieved to find they did actually have what appeared to be good seats behind one of the goals for 65 euros each. I snapped them up.

Getting to the game. It’s pretty easy to get to Camp Nou. Game was at 8, so we start out around 6 pm. We strolled down to the Para-lel metro stop and grab the green line (L3) to Zona Universitat. 6 stops later and we are at Marie Cristina station, where everyone seems to be getting out. Metro was crowded but not packed.

Once we get out things are not so clear. I am a bit turned around, and much of the crow is actually going Christmas shopping at the huge Cortes Ingles store, which turns out to be in the wrong direction. Once straightened out, we walk back along the massive Avenue Diagonal to the Princess Sophia Hotel, owned by a former president of Barca and a long time hangout for team members, journalists, and cules (hard core Barca supporters). Turn left after the hotel and the crowd is thickening fast as we move downhill toward the suddenly looming stadium. It’s big!

Crowds are very orderly (by English standards anyway) and we are early so it’s not too tough. We find ourselves right outside the gate we’re supposed to use and then pretty much outside the correct inner gate. Once inside, we find our way to our seats and then look up. It’s huge – an enormous bowl with 5 tiers of seats reaching way up into the night. The field is sparkling with lights, filled with action – teams warming up, cameramen looking for position.

Our seats are remarkably good – much better than I expected. We are behind one of the goals, in line with the edge of the box, and only about 15 rows back. There is a glass partition right in front of us, apparently to stop fans rushing forward toward the field, and then there is a huge net hanging right across behind the goal almost from side to side of the field.

People next to us are friendly – a much younger crowd than at the West ham game we saw a couple of weeks ago in London. Lots of couples, quite a lot of women. Some older couples, and lots of men of all ages. Plenty of kids too.

Teams. Unfortunately, Barca are without Messi, injured at the end of a rough game against Dynamo Kiev that we watched on TV. He makes a token appearance to show off the Ballon d’Or that he won last week, but he will be missed.

Barca’s front six are Xavi, Toure, and Iniesta in midfield, with Henry, Ibra, and Pedro up front.

There’s a huge roar as Barca come out, after a chorus of whistles and boos for Espanyol, long time cross town rivals who are also intimately involved in the politics of Barca – anti-royalist, and anti-Spanish, anti-Madrid, who surely do not appreciate a local Catalan team calling themselves “Espanyol.” The Barca fans sing their anthem, and it’s time to go.

Espanyol start fast, narrowly missing a shot in the first minute. After that it’s pretty much all Barca as they start to weave their patterns across the field. Valdes is at our end in the first half, and has little to do except make one very good save to tip over a swerving shot from outside the box.

But despite the possession, Barca are not doing all that much. Espanyol are marking Xavi very closely, and he’s not seeing much of the ball. Henry wants too much time on the ball, and though Pedro shows flashes of brilliance and speed, he’s not in the game all that much.

It’s Ibra who really catches the eye. He’s physically huge and very imposing. He relishes knocking defenders down when he can. But his touch is incredible, and his vision is awesome. He makes a number of crisp passes, always seems to have an understanding of where his first touch will go, and is clearly understanding the Barca system better every day. I originally thought that the trade for Eto’o plus 40m euros was insane. But I now think that Ibra is bringing a new dimension to Barca’s game, making them even more formidable, and that it was an incredible trade.

Suddenly, Pedro is flattened in the box at the far end. We can’t really see what happened, and Barca does a horrible job with the jumbotron. It’s small very high up and worse still they don’t use it! For anything! Not even for goals!

Ibra takes the kick, and it’s upper 90 all the way. 1-0 Barca.

Game gets into a rhythm. Barca pressing forward, Espanyol playing long ball and hoping for a mistake – which nearly happens as Pique gets caught in possession. But Barca cover quickly and snuff out the threat.

Despite their possession, Barca aren’t really creating many chances – the Espanyol goalie has to do not much except pick up a cross or two. Half-time, and the game is not really catching fire.

Half-time. Stretch the legs, find a snack. Fairly chaotic, but eventually snag a huge Catalan sausage (“botifarra” in Catalan) in a baguette. Share it with Mikey.

Game restarts, but the second half is pretty disappointing. Henry makes a couple of runs down towards us, but can’t get by the full back. Pedro is still bright and active but can’t get close to goal. Even Ibra is less threatening.

Pedro off in the 60th minute, replaced by Keita (a somewhat defensive move). Ibra leaves for Bojan, who seems lost playing as a lone striker. More fouls, more niggling, game coming now only in fits and starts. You can still see what Barca are trying to do, but without Messi they don’t seem to have the creativity to unlock to even a fairly mediocre team like Espanyol.

No more action. 1-0 Barca.

If I was Pep Guardiola, I’d be a bit worried. Barca looked pretty toothless without Messi to provide the spark, the creative genius, and to gather the attention of the defense. They still play very pretty football, but I wasn’t surprised that they only scored once. I don’t think the Espanyol goalie had to make a significant save all night.

Visiting the Camp Nou was a great experience. I loved the stadium, and the fans were in the main pretty pleasant. There were some obscene chants directed at the Espanyol players especially when one was writhing on the ground injured or getting carded for fouling a Barca player.

The one thing missing – was noise! No singing. I’m used to English grounds, where fans sing their traditional songs all game long, and direct abuse in the form of songs at other teams. There was a roar when Barca scored, but nothing much to encourage the players. It was quite quiet, actually, most of the time.

So the pleasant family atmosphere went hand in hand with a spectatorish approach -people watched but didn’t participate all that much. It’s not I was expecting, but it made for a fun night out without any of the edge one often feels around English grounds.