Ferran Torres scores brace to ship Barcelona to the highest of La Liga, stage with Actual Madrid, who face Elche on Sunday.
Barcelona had been again at their beloved Camp Nou and produced a dominant 4-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao so as to add to the homecoming celebrations.
Some 45,000 followers had been readily available on Saturday as what is ready to be Europe’s largest soccer stadium reopened at roughly half capability.
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Camp Nou had been closed for greater than two years for a significant overhaul that the indebted membership hopes will enhance revenues.
Robert Lewandowski set the tone early, capitalising on an error in Athletic’s defence within the fourth minute. Alex Berenger mishandled the ball whereas trying to play out from the again, permitting the Polish striker to grab possession and fireplace a low effort previous Unai Simon on the close to publish.
Barcelona maintained management all through, relentlessly pressuring an out-of-form Athletic facet. Ernesto Valverde’s fees have solely managed three wins since September, dropping six of their final 9 league fixtures.
Eighth within the desk with 17 factors, Athletic not often threatened the hosts.
Barcelona struck once more in first-half stoppage time. Lamine Yamal’s expertly delivered lengthy ball into house discovered Torres, and the Spanish ahead took the go completely in his stride, raced into the realm and calmly slotted previous Simon.
Three minutes into the second half, Barcelona punished one other defensive lapse by Athletic. Making an attempt to play out from the again, the guests gifted possession to the alert Fermin Lopez, who rifled a bullet strike into the web.
Athletic’s frustrations boiled over when Oihan Sancet was despatched off with a straight pink card within the 53rd minute following a reckless problem on Lopez.
Within the closing phases, Torres added his second, rounding off one other counterattack arrange by the 18-year-old Yamal, who supplied a second chic help.
The win pulled Barcelona stage on factors with Actual Madrid atop the desk earlier than Madrid visits Elche on Sunday.
“We performed nicely from the beginning and took one other three factors, however the vital factor at present is being again at Camp Nou,” Lewandowski mentioned. “It’s one thing else to play right here. I feel once we play at Camp Nou, we’re somewhat bit stronger.”
Barcelona’s followers belted out the membership hymn earlier than kickoff amid a celebratory vibe regardless of the chilly climate.
That they had cause to be additional blissful. The final time that they had been capable of attend a sport at Camp Nou was Might 2023. For the next 900-plus days, Barcelona performed their residence video games on the municipally owned 55,000-seat Olympic Stadium situated atop a hill overlooking town that was harder to succeed in.
“It has been two years on the [Olympic Stadium] and it wasn’t simple, the environment wasn’t the identical, you could possibly inform it wasn’t Camp Nou,” the 36-year-old fan Carlos Narváez instructed The Related Press.
“That is like coming residence. I’m positive the gamers will really feel that method, similar to we followers do. You possibly can see how excited everyone seems to be.”
However homecoming apart, there’s nonetheless vital work earlier than the new-look Camp Nou is completed and able to maintain 105,000 followers.
The highest tier of Camp Nou stays largely a skeleton of metallic and concrete beams and pillars; large building cranes loom over the stadium and are seen from the stands, and there are areas that appear to be a building web site.
Work on upgrading Camp Nou started in June 2023 to restore, modernise and develop a venue that beforehand had a capability of 99,000. The membership secured 1.45 billion euros (then $1.6bn) from a number of traders to undertake the remodelling undertaking.
Barcelona had initially deliberate to be again enjoying video games at Camp Nou as early as November 2024 to coincide with the membership’s one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary. The date was pushed again a number of occasions, and the membership has not mentioned when it now expects the stadium work to be accomplished. The membership mentioned it plans to hunt permission from authorities to open extra seating as work progresses.
Barcelona additionally acquired authorisation from UEFA this week to host Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou on December 9.
