When one talks about Barcelona, besides the shopping at La Rambla and the famous Catholic Church, Sagrada Familia, it is often the local football team, FC Barcelona, that comes to mind first.
Though gone were the days of Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Carles Puyol, the five times UEFA Champions League and 27 LaLiga title winner is still one of the most fierce-some clubs in the world. At the time of writing this article, Barca, which they are also popularly known as, is occupying the third position in the La Liga, losing just twice in 17 matches. They also lead the pack in Group H of the UEFA Champions League.
So, we recently had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the famous club, thanks to LaLiga and FC Barcelona.
One of the most talked about visiting Barca is their home ground, Camp Nou. Unfortunately, the largest stadium in Europe, the fifth largest in the world, is currently undergoing a massive renovation. The new capacity of the Spotify Camp Nou will be increased from 99,354 to 105,000 seats, making it the second-largest stadium in the world.
All of Barca’s 2023-2024 season home matches will be played at Lluis Company Olympic Stadium. The excitement of going into a Barca home game was still running high. Why? We are going to catch the UEFA Champions League between Barca and Portugal’s FC Porto!
Despite being our first trip to Barcelona, finding our way to the Olympic Stadium took only a short time. Taxi drivers had to alight us slightly outside the Stadium premises as all the roads leading to the Stadium entrance were closed off during match day. All we needed to do was to follow the hundreds of crowd, who were equally early (2 hours before kickoff timing) as ourselves, and soon we found ourselves arriving at the Stadium entry point.
And the first to welcome us were not the ticket counter or any of the food vendors – the football ultras probably had already gathered there hours before us, singing and waving the flares away at a corner of the stadium. In front of our eyes, it was all red, smoky, heart-pumping, and filled with unexplainable excitement. It was also loud, especially with fireworks lighting up the night.
The feeling was so different at the other LaLiga match between Elche and Valencia which we had covered in April. Our only explanation was that it was a weekend 2pm match compared to Barca’s 9pm. Weather plays a huge part in the overall match day experience as well, we reckon – it was chilly in the late evening’s match. For this trip to the Olympic Stadium, we were feeling excited about the game.
9pm local time. The UEFA Champions League theme song went off, and the match between Barca and FC Porto kicked off in nearly 40,000 packed Stadium. Instead of focusing on the exciting match, we were literally “marked out” of the game by the entertaining football ultras’ singing and the ten over thousands of mini Barca flags given to the fans for free upon entry, waving in the air. It was nothing impressive when only a few hundred flags moved in the air. But when it’s ten over thousands with singing, it is a sight.
So Barca did the expected and defeated FC Porto 2-1 to give us our first-ever UEFA Champions League experience a perfect welcome! We visited the Barcelona Immersive Tour Museum the next day to save our precious time.
Although it is the Barcelona Immersive Tour Museum which we are going to, the entire compound is not just about the Museum; it is an area which consists of the largest Barca Merchandise Store (FCBotiga Megastore), Barca Cafe and a substantial 7,500-capacity indoor arena which hosts sports like basketball, futsal, handball and roller hockey. FC Barcelona’s Corporate Project Manager and Global Area/Communications PR Officer, Mr. Chemi Teres Olivella, welcomed us at the Museum.
Our first thought and expectation of the Barca Immersive Tour was that it should be similar to many of the other football museums we had visited previously, such as Atletico Madrid, Fluminense, FC Seoul, etc.. Still, when we entered the Museum, we realised it was not just a typical museum – it was a game-changer.
As the name of the Museum suggested, the experience of walking inside the Museum was immersive, with endless interaction points. The sophisticated LED setup, lighting, background music, and display of the trophies, posters, and many significant memorabilia were highly engaging. It was like going into a gamer room where the running LED strips set the mood, and you just wanted to stay in there enjoying the exhibits forever! Sometimes, we might need to become more familiar with some of their explanations, Mr. Chemi would always be there to elaborate.
Before the tour ended, the last stop was a jaw-dropping, immersive, large-format show that wrapped us in a thrilling 360-degree experience! It was like you’re one of the football stars standing next to another great Barcelona legend! It was an emotional experience that took us through historic moments. We noticed many other visitors also took that opportunity to soak in the background by just sitting down and watching the 360-degree LED wall presentation. We did that, too.
Barca is a team that most of us would have already known a lot because of the team’s achievement and reputation. However, we were humbled to learn even more when we were there in the city. It was indeed an eye-opener and a great learning lesson for us.
This trip to Barca was a very insightful learning trip for us. Thank you to LaLiga and FC Barcelona for the arrangement and opportunity. We will certainly be back at LaLiga games again soon.
To learn more about Barca Immersive Tour Museum, click LINK.
Main Article Photo: Courtesy of FC Barcelona
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