My friends and I booked our tickets months in advance. Someone may have looked ahead for the cheapest games. (Okay, it was me.) Barça tickets can easily be 100 euros and can get up to 600 euros for the big Barça v. Madrid games. However, ours were only about 20 euros and absolutely worth it.
Saturday, December 3. Camp Nou. 8 pm. Opponent: who cares? Fine, it was Levante UD, some team from Valencia. I didn’t care. I was going to a Barça game!!! I had decided to buy a Barça scarf a few days before, and then during the morning of the game, I caved in and bought a jersey, thinking I could return the scarf. Then I decided that the scarf was equally badass and everyone tried talking to me in Catalán, so I kept them both.
That afternoon, I had friends come over to my piso for some pre-game snacks. Super pumped about our first game, we bundled up and took the metro toward Camp Nou. The stadium is absolutely massive: it seats just a few hundred shy of 100,000 people and is the largest stadium in Europe. To put this in perspective for my fellow NorCal kids: AT&T Park seats 41,000 and the HP Pavilion seats about 17,000. Yeah, Camp Nou is massive.
My theory is that in good sports stadiums, there is no such thing as a bad seat. Considering that our seats were in the highest section of the stadium, I can safely say that Camp Nou is just about amazing.
We got there rather early, but it was fun to see the stadium go from ¼ way full to almost packed. I don’t think I can quite describe what I saw: the lights, the players, the goals, the wind and the cold, the insults… oh, the insults. I learned more foul words in a 1 ½ hour game than I had in three months of being in Barcelona. I can now say I am a proper sideline yeller, but I still tend to revert to English. I was just so excited and happy that night… so happy, in fact, that I teared up during the Catalán nacional anthem before the game.
It was such a pleasure watching them play, even though it was a high scoring game and Barça was obviously superior to Levante. Just by watching them play, it is easy to see why Barça is one of the best teams in the world: the way they pass and know where the other players are is fantastic. They all have terrific chemistry. And dear God, don’t get me started on Messi: he has these frantic feet and when he gets the ball, he just creates chaos that no defense knows how to handle. Then there is Pujol, holding the back of the field strong with his trademark curls and captain band with the Catalán flag. My friend Gema and I have decided that Pujol is the picture of Catalán badass-ery.
The game ended in a 5-0 shutout victory and the Barça song came on over the loudspeaker. The words are in Catalán, but I tried my best to remember one verse of the song. After, we went to the 24 hour churrería for some late night snacks. It definitely was one of my favorite Barcelona nights and I know I will be returning to Camp Nou before I leave in July.
Why Barça?” you ask. Well, when in Rome…I don’t even know how that sentence is supposed to end, but let’s just change cities: “When in Barcelona…” You like Barça. Period. But it’s not just a game. Football is highly political. And when I say football, I don’t mean American football, which I don’t care about at all. I don’t even know who won the Super Bowl this past Sunday.
Barça is not just a football team: it is a symbol of Catalunya. Back in the days when flying the Catalán flag was illegal, FC Barcelona became a symbol of Catalán nationalism during Franco’s Madrid-centric government. All questions about the animosity between Madrid and Barcelona can be answered with that single name: Franco. So, a victory is not just a victory. After the game, one of my friends asked me, “How did you like the biggest exhibition of Catalán national pride?” I had to think about it for a second… oh, she meant the game.
My response: “Best. Thing. Ever.”
(Photos courtesy of my buddy with an amazing camera, Gema Leon)
i can see that you really understand the significate of FCB and also the important of catalan. Like you write, FCB is more that one team, is a thing of to live the life. In the "Masia", the players more younger are studying for his future moreover the football. I'm very happy because in the others countries is been seeing like you write. I hope that also you knows that FCB is more that football, is basquetball, handball, hockey... For exemple, today in this afternoon i have seen handball in "Palau blaugrana", is very nice to see this sports moreover football. And like me very much that you know exactly the catalan culture, you are very intelligent and interesting. Other question; I want to see you in hockey... :p
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon
Eric gamiz