BEHIND THE PLAY #9

One of Messi’s most iconic goals was scored five years ago yesterday. We were there for it. Here’s how it went.

My youngest and I were nearing the end of our first day of a nine day trip with a plan to see as many games as possible, including up to three of the four 2019 Champions League semi-finals games (Barca v Liverpool and Spurs v Ajax) and it wasn’t looking good. We had no luck getting into the Tottenham game that night and despite assurances from a friend who said he could get us free tickets for the Camp Nou game the next day, I got a text earlier that day saying it wasn’t going to happen. Same guy who got me 16 tickets for the Tragically Hip’s last show at Rogers Arena couldn’t swing these ones! So I go online and wince as I drop $1800 on a pair of tickets. Up in the morning and ask the guy working reception at the hotel if he can print the PDF I had for our two tickets. “Just email it to me and I’ll print it for you.” Get the printout and realize I’ve given a random guy a file with the tickets. Will he repost them on Viagogo; the Euro Stubhub I used to buy them? Email them to a friend he might have in Barcelona? My body was clenched in misery the rest of the day. The thought of a delayed flight compounded the tension. I was here with my 16 year old son to see games on the only soccer trip I’d done without having tickets in hand when I left home and was regretting taking that chance.

Meaningful games with the best players in the world at iconic stadiums in great cities. That’s what I had in mind for this trip. If you’ve got a kid who loves the game, you know that sixteen may be the peak age for them immersing themselves in the game, so this trip was not one that could afford to go sideways (that’s what family camping trips are for).

Our flight from London to Barcelona got us in a few hours before kick-off. Quick metro to our hotel that was just 400m from Camp Nou and then we’re off into the throng surrounding the stadium. €2 Estrellas from street sellers tempered my mood but when my kid said he wanted to be in as early as possible to see the warm-ups, I said, “Buddy, I assure you we will be the first ones in there.”

I’ll never know if someone else tried scanning a printout of our tickets but we were inside toute suite as soon as those doors opened.

So the stress was now gone and we joined 98,000 others in watching a game that saw Barca win 3-0. And yes the photo from the Behind the Play ‘subscribe now’ page is one I took at this game. Here’s another.

And for this bit of Messi genius alone, it was worth it. Here’s how it looked from our seats.

And if that wasn’t enough we had tickets for three La Liga games the following weekend before heading to Anfield for what is now remembered as a legendary return leg.

Postscript: I am most content when and where soccer, travel and music intersect and my family, or at least parts of it, are along for the ride. This trip afforded one of those rare trifectas. As we got on the evening train leaving Barcelona for Madrid, my eldest son texted me that his band’s first album had just gone up on streaming platforms. I got it on my headphones as we zipped along at 300km/h into the last bits of daylight fresh from an Espanyol v Atletico Madrid game and bound for the Real Madrid v Villareal game the next day at the Bernabeu. Perfect. Today’s song is from that album.

_{Still be Dreamin’ by Tanglers (Apple Music) (Spotify)}