It took just four minutes for Polish striker Robert Lewandowski to earn the honour of scoring the first goal in the new Spotify Camp Nou.
Barcelona's top scorer in recent seasons, his celebrations did justice to the significance he knew was attached to the moment.
After two-and-a-half years, including a year of missed deadlines, the Spanish champions returned to their half-built home, where 45,000 fans were licensed to attend in a venue which will eventually seat 105,000 when it’s finished one year from now.
Or two, perhaps, if recent history is anything to go by. Although, it is realistic that 62,000 seats will be in use before the end of 2025.
Camp Nou was already a cathedral of world football, but it was dated and its facilities had fallen behind rival venues.
With demand high and average attendances of 88,000 before the stadium was reduced to a shell and part-demolished, Barcelona knew the scope was there for their home to be bigger and better, with a roof, and crucially from the point of view of the club, far more executive facilities, where visitors pay much more than the average season ticket holder.
Barcelona are aggressive with the ticket pricing and their US-inspired model is being copied by other European clubs.
However, their ownership model means the club is owned by its supporters, who each have a vote. The board can hardly price out those supporters, though it’s much easier to charge a higher price ticket to a one-off tourist fan, even though it’s deeply unpopular.
Tickets were priced at a minimum of €199 on the morning of Saturday's 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, rising to over €500 for a non-executive seat in the main stand.
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Fans arrive at Camp Nou in Barcelona. All pictures Andy Mitten / The National -
Scenes before kick off at Camp Nou. -
The partially reopened Camp Nou in Barcelona. -
The partially reopened Camp Nou in Barcelona.
In contrast, Barcelona look after their season ticket holders with fair pricing. It's the one-off visitors, ever-increasing in their number, who bear the brunt.
Of the 45,000 fans in attendance, 24,000 were season ticket holders given priority given after supporting their team through a two-season stay in the city’s Olympic Stadium. That meant the remaining 21,000 tickets were for fans at the ridiculously high prices – a far higher percentage than the 15,000 available to one-off visitors when the stadium held 99,000 before its remodelling.
The club stressed that the high prices were because of the significance of the game, the attractive opponents and that tickets wouldn’t be so steep from now on.
They acknowledge the moves are not popular and state that the club needs to make €225 million from stadium operations this season, €50 million more than last season when they played in front of average crowds of 47,000 at Montjuic.
The result is that it’s not just rival fans who sneer at the number of tourists at Barcelona games.
“Not everyone returns home,” tweeted the Almogavers, a vocal supporters’ group who brought the noise to Barca games but who were vetoed from attending.
“The veto of Almogavers means that after 36 years of cheering for Barca we find ourselves on the street. The Grada Animacio (animated stand) with the groups could be a reality. Tourists are preferred instead of flags, drums and those who cheer. A new Camp Nou without the spark of animation.”
The group’s place watching Barca – and that of some other groups – was closed a year ago after fines totalling €21,000 were issued by La Liga, Uefa and the Catalan government following 14 misdemeanours from fans including racist chants from a minority.
The club paid the fines and asked the fan groups to reimburse them. They didn’t, and a solution hasn’t been found. On Saturday, 1,200 seats were left empty behind the south goal – a collective punishment for the actions of a few.
“The decision to close the entire Supporters' Stand is a disproportionate measure that criminalises an entire group that has shown itself to be by the team's side whenever it has needed it,” said Victor Font, who wants to replace Joan Laporta as president when elections are held next year.
Who ends up sitting inside the new Camp Nou is a real issue. Against the Basques, there were pockets of vocal support and chants of “Visca Barca” and “Visca Catalunya” but the noisiest fans were missed in what is still a building site.
With seven Catalans in their starting eleven, Barcelona did well, winning comfortably and moving on to the same points as Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, though Madrid have a game in hand.
The Basques of Athletic are no slouches. Europa League semi-finalists and fourth place in La Liga last term, they’re seventh in the table so far, having had to deal with Champions League football under former Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde, but they were easily brushed aside on Saturday.
Ferran Torres scored twice, Fermin Lopez got one, while Lamine Yamal made two assists. Scarves bearing Yamal’s name dominate merchandise stalls outside the stadium.
The 18-year-old was barely on the radar of most Barcelona fans the last and only time he appeared in Camp Nou – for 7 minutes against Real Betis in April 2023 – aged just 15.
He’s now the main man, the big hope to carry the team in what will be an incredible new home. But who will be watching him in the stands when the stadium is at full capacity?
