Every detail was unmissable, every gesture, worthy of retention, every moment, to be kept forever. It wasn’t just any day. It was “a match day”, but above all it was the day of the last match at Camp Nou until the stadium is completely modernized. Now will come the exodus from Montjuïc and the expected return home scheduled for November 2024, but before that it was time to say goodbye to the Barcelona home since 1957 with magnificence. The club did it together with the mass of members and fans, alive, enthusiastic, beating and given to an emotional slide. A real parade through history, the present and also the future.
In this situation the least important thing was the result, although it will go down in the annals that Barça overcame Mallorca with great solvency. A match where Xavi’s team showed intensity, desire, ardor and brilliant actions. Like the one that opened the scoring right at the start, an electric combination between Busquets, Lewandowski and Gavi, which gave Ansu Fati the goal. A play that mixed experience, youth and uncertainty, as the ownership and gestures of the striker also had an air of farewell. He repeated with the second, after an excellent assist to the first touch of a generous Lewandowski. The Pole scraped the third with a free kick on the crossbar. The one who achieved it, on the other hand, with a dry shot with the left was an acclaimed Gavi.
Luxury goals that delighted an audience that started the match with the cry of “champions, champions”, that in the 10th minute loudly chanted Messi’s name and that, partially, remembered Espanyol with chants of “a Second”. Mallorca, meanwhile, behaved like a proper guest, except for a violent entry by Amath Ndiaye in Balde. He sent him to the infirmary, with a broken right ankle. The referee, after seeing the situation on the monitor, sent off the Mallorcan player.
“Thank you for so much joy, we will miss you”, “4 generations of López at Camp Nou”, “Thank you for so many good times”. A stream of fans, mostly wearing the Barça shirt, swirled on the esplanade of the stadium’s tribune and wrote the farewell message on a mural. There were still two hours left for the match, but the Barcelona atmosphere was already spreading like an anthill. A few meters away, other fans were posing with five major trophies in the club’s history. In other words, the Basel Cup Winners’ Cup, the first Wembley European Cup, the first Club World Cup, the last League and the last Copa del Rey.
There was a sea of ​​Lewandowski shirts, many of the long-lost Messi, some of Pedri and Gavi and even one of Cruyff the player, due to the vintage accent of the day.
The tone was festive, but mostly goosebumps. Before the start, the voice of the legendary speaker Manel Vich could be heard over the megaphone, welcoming the stadium as he had done all his life.
The squad for the season that inaugurated the field on La Mercè Day in 1957 was also recited. The Ramallets, Olivella, Segarra, Vergés, Gensana, Bà ssora, Villaverde, Eulogio MartÃnez, Kubala, Tejada or Luis Suárez were again mentioned where his temple once was. Even though one of the moments that touched the fiber the most before the ball rolled was the intonation of the Cant del Barça a cappella and at the top of their lungs by the full venue. At the same time, the stand took on a thick Blaugrana hue.
Then came the match, in which Ter Stegen managed to equal, with 26, the record of goals to zero, and in which Alba left with tears in his eyes and with the audience standing. Deafening ovation that was repeated when Xavi replaced Busquets.
But, this time, the function did not end with the referee’s whistle. There was the end of the party, which was revealed with a video that collected historical moments from the stadium, a circumstance that served for Messi to be acclaimed again when he appeared scoring goals for posterity. After the farewells and the speeches of the classics Busquets and Alba, it was the turn of culture and poetry. With the slogan Full of history, full of future, Josep Maria de Sagarra’s poem was read on the day of the inauguration as another wink that served as an umbilical cord between the past and the present .
As in 1957, the making of a giant sardana in the central circle could not be missing. A version of the Cant del Barça performed by the La Principal de Terrassa couple was danced. Before the fireworks, the music continued to take center stage. Because Beth Rodergas sang Fins aviat, Camp Nou, a version of the Song of Farewells written for the occasion by the members of La Trinca. In order for the audience to sing along with Beth, the lyrics were broadcast over the video scoreboard, although by then a good portion of the audience had already left. See you soon, Camp Nou. It is not the end of you after 66 years. It’s a full stop.
