Barça

Barça – Glasgow Celtic

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Look at this!

I went up to Barcelona today to get the tickets and to check on the route. We had paid on the internet but ‘for security reasons’ you can’t print out the tickets at home. Tomorrow I need to accompany the Resident Adolescent to hospital for a check up and it leaves us very little time to arrive at Camp Nou, let alone have to collect the tickets so I decided to go up to town and get them first.  The football game will be our first outing together – just us two as his father is working!

From Granollers I took the train to Sants then a metro to Badal and a 10 minute walk to the stadium.
There were lots of Scottish people around, wearing green jerseys and looking at home.  Normally in the UK I’d run a million miles to escape football supporters but somehow here in Camp Nou they seemed more human and friendly.
I don’t fancy meeting them after they get a few drinks inside though.

I picked up the tickets after a fair bit of faffing around in the wrong queues and at the wrong gate. The place to pick up pre-ordered tickets is just inside Gate 14 and there are no signs leading you there.
Afterwards I did the journey in reverse, noting down times and deciding that if we catch the 7.30 train tomorrow we can just make it to see the opening of the match.  I took the metro from Collblanc on the way home which I think is slightly closer.

Now to decide what to wear to the match.  And who am I supporting?  It feels really interesting to have this match now – with all the Scottish Catalan connections around independence.

Should be interesting.

PS After I got home the hospital rang and cancelled the appointment – so we can leave early and catch the beginning of the game. Yippee!

El Clåssic

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Today was quite intense.
The streets are full of Catalan flags and stalls selling books and roses for Sant Jordi.
Actually it isn’t really Sant Jordi (Saint George) until Monday but as it falls on a Monday they have decided to spread the celebrations over three days

This gives us more time to chose our book which this year will be another one in Catalan, this time by a woman, and if possible not about the Civil War or Medieval Barcelona.
We will read it together, mostly out loud, as we have been doing for the past two years.
It really helps with learning the language.
Duna came to help  and almost came to blows in the bookshop with another dog who was also doing his book shopping

Then there was also the football match between Barça and Madrid. At 8pm the streets were almost empty even though the shops were still open. We went to the Toy Bar which was full of people but were still able to get a small table although the extremely large man in front of us kept standing up in his excitement and blocking all view of the game

El Clàssic or Yet another football post

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Tomorrow evening there is a football match between Barcelona and Madrid. It’s called El Clasico or El Clàssic in Catalan, and is the name given to any match between these two teams. It is one of the most watched football matches in the world – hundreds of millions of people glued to their TV screens, as well as the lucky ones who are actually there to see it live.
As I’ve said before, I don’t know much about football, but it is easier to learn about it when it grabs your attention like this does.
To show how ignorant I am in general I will embarrass myself by admitting that I didn’t know there was a  Barça/Madrid match tomorrow night until I just saw it on TV.  Then I noticed something interesting – I felt nervous!  I realised it makes me anxious thinking about it and I know that when I am watching the game there will be butterflies in my stomach.
Weird isn’t it?
Five Things I Have Learnt About El Clàssic
1/   Real Madrid has more supporters in Spain than Barça does while Barça has more support in Europe. Worldwide, Real Madrid appears to win the number of supporters competition with over 228 million fans according to some studies. Perhaps if you keep expanding your horizon to include the universe,  Barça would come out top!
2/   Barça has won more Classic matches than Real Madrid.  Barça 103 – Real Madrid 90 (I’ve never seen them lose which is one reason for my pre-match anxiety)
3/   More players have switched from Barça to Madrid than the other way around with 17 going to the Spanish capital and only 4 coming to Catalunya. I wonder why? More money offered by Madrid?  Barça preferring to get new players elsewhere?
4/   The other rivalry is between the team coaches – Guardiola and Mourinho.  They share a first name but for Guardiola it is the Catalan version Josep/Pep and Mourinho is known as Jose.  In English? Joseph or Joe.

5/  When they speak in the after match discussion it is impressive how easily Guardiola slips between languages but I have just read that Morinho too speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French as well as Portuguese.  Guardiola speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan so in this match there is a draw!

Three Golden Balls

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Congratulations to Lionel Messi for winning his third Balon D’Or which names him the top footballer of the year.  True to character he said in his acceptance speech that he would like to share it with Xavi, his team mate from Barcelona FC.
He’s not only the best but the most easy to like footballer that I know. Watch him speak and see him smile and you know he is intelligent as well as funny and charming. He’s only 24!

If you are like me and don’t know what the Balon D’Or is then here is the explanation.
If you’d just like to see him in action then try here.  I love watching him run with the ball – and look at his long hair!