Football is known as the beautiful game, but what I witnessed at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium on March 14th last year was far from beautiful.
Like waving a red rag to a bull, some Chelsea fans unfurled a Spanish flag to taunt the Catalonians amid bitter independence feuds, sparking disgraceful scenes of crowd trouble on a night when the London club crashed out of the Champions League.
When I arrived back at my hotel, Camila Gómez, the owner, told me: “To try and mock these events is deeply offensive to those of Catalan blood, for all we have fought for.
“In this sense you can see why English football fans have a bad reputation.”
Most fans will remember the last meeting between the two here, a dramatic 2-2 draw that sent Chelsea on the way to claiming their first Champions League title back in 2012. The history between them could hardly be described as friendly before today. Back in 2006, Lionel Messi told the News of the World: “There are players here who hate Chelsea more than Real Madrid. I never thought I would hear myself say that.”
Today, it was clear there had been no love lost since.
Building up to the encounter, streets were lined with blue flags from those who had made the trip from West London. The sun beat down on an afternoon that preceded a showdown between two European footballing giants.
Dylan Grantham, a Blues season ticket holder, was in the Catalan city. He told me: “Everyone is out here in the sunshine drinking, singing and having a good time; it’s what makes football the best sport in the world.
“We’re in with a big chance. We were the better team in the first leg but that’s what the best teams in the world do, they punish you.”
As I walked to the ground, the home side’s cries of “Força Barça” and the smashing of beer bottles cut through the city, as a scarlet coloured mist polluted the night sky from flares lit by fanatics.
Approaching Camp Nou, Europe’s largest football stadium loomed over me like a modern-day Colosseum.
It was clear the atmosphere was going to be hostile from the get go. Hordes of police in fluorescent yellow, armed with guns and dogs, glared on as the 4,000 Chelsea fans began their ascension to the away section in the heavens of the 99,000-seater stadium. A makeshift metal bridge quivered as the English supporters were made to take a route which avoided any contact with the locals.
Perched at the top of the stadium, I could see the skyline for miles as a city held its breath in anticipation of the 90 minutes to come. Following the sounding of the anthem, the match proceeded.
Cheered on by the capacity crowd, Barcelona took the lead in the third minute when Messi slid the ball through Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois’ legs from a tight angle. The former then went on a dazzling trademark run before setting up Ousmane Dembele who emphatically smashed home to double la Blaugrana’s advantage. The away side had chances and hit the woodwork twice on their quest to level affairs, but it was the Argentine talisman’s 100th Champions League goal that wrapped the tie up and sent the Blues crashing out at the last-16 stage of the competition.
Tensions had been building during the game which were not helped by the imprisonment of the travelling fans inside an away section surrounded by hardened plastic screens. Goading from some Barcelona supporters caused tempers to boil and stewards were quickly summoned as coins were thrown between fans. However, it was after the match was concluded that scenes began to become more distasteful.
Will Moore, a fan who had travelled from Essex, explained to me: “When the final whistle went you could sense there was trouble on the horizon.
“Plenty of words had been said between us and the home fans during the game and at times it looked as if the plastic screens separating us were going to give way as people kept punching and shoving it.
“What was to follow was a shock. You would think the police would help you, not join in.”
Normal protocol, to hold visiting supporters for a period after full-time, was abandoned as frustration at the score line soon turned to anger and unrest. Fans were let loose and began to descend out of the ground. Surrounded by gloating Barcelona fans, tensions in the atmosphere had reached boiling point and various items were launched into the crowd.
Following the political controversy of Catalonia’s failed independence bid in October 2017, a minority of Chelsea fans began to attack the sensitivity of the subject for locals, chanting “Barcelona, you’ll always be Spain” to the home supporters who would have been deeply affected by the topic.
I watched on as the atmosphere instantly switched, the Barcelona faithful went into turmoil and began to break through the police lines to confront the unknown perpetrators of the songs. A Spanish flag was unfurled from within the Blues’ ranks and waved to provoke as it rippled in the night’s breeze.
I caught a glimpse of what was now unfolding before my eyes. Police were spontaneously grabbing fleeing Chelsea supporters and, in numbers, beating them with batons. In the meantime, some of the home support had managed to infiltrate the ranks and were now adding to what had now become warfare within the walkway that was already crammed to the maximum and more angry crowd-members were closing in.
Now back at the unstable bridge there waited at least 50 people underneath, shaking it as the makeshift model, comprising of scaffold poles and uneven stairs, began to tremble beneath my feet.
I thought back on a night of contrasts, a breath-taking performance from Messi had knocked my team out but once again the darker side of the sport had reared its ugly head as clashes and politically-fuelled tension took centre stage in the aftermath.
UEFA are yet to take measures against either club as investigations into disciplinary breaches take place. Chelsea tweeted following the match, asking fans to contact them about their “experiences” seeking to build evidence for a complaint against the policing.
Elsewhere in Europe, UEFA have had to take disciplinary action in another Champions League tie, albeit for a more trivial affair. Turkish side Besiktas have been charged for “insufficient organisation” after a cat got onto the pitch stopping play in their tie against Bayern Munich. Subsequently, the feline was voted man of the match by an overwhelming majority on the German club’s Twitter feed who seemed to see the funny side in it all.
With Chelsea looking like they could miss out on the top four, it may be a while before their next European adventure to a giant club such as their adversaries tonight. It remains to be seen what action UEFA will take but further questions will be asked of Spanish police who have built a reputation in the past for their heavy-handed approach.
As the thousands of Chelsea fans head back to the capital, they will be hoping Antonio Conte’s side can have them jetting off again next season with dreams of European glory.
Lewis Adams 