Barcelona to serve up sweet finale to Thailand's feast of summer soccer
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With only a few thousand tickets left, Wednesday's exhibition match in Bangkok featuring a Barcelona team led by World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is set to draw an even bigger crowd than last weekend's Liverpool match, say the organisers.
The Catalan club will visit the country for the first time since 2002 for the glamour tie against Thailand’s under-23 side at the Rajamangala National Stadium.
The Spaniards are the last of the four European clubs to visit Bangkok, following on the heels of three English teams – Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool – for an unprecedented football fiesta in Thailand.
Barca’s visit seems a fitting end to a feast of soccer that started with the arrival of English Premier League champions Manchester United in the middle of last month. Thai fans, though, are still hungry to see a Spanish side dripping with world-class talent.
With the attendance for the Liverpool fixture last Sunday reported to be about 45,000, ThaiBev, which is hosting the game as a sponsor of the Catalan club, yesterday revealed that ticket sales for the Barcelona match had already surpassed those figures.
“We have already sold 46,000-odd tickets for the Barca match, with only a few thousand remaining. We expect a sold-out game as there are still a few more days before the match,” said Sorakrit Latthitham, ThaiBev’s senior marketing manager.
The stadium can accommodate 48,000 fans.
Sorakrit also confirmed that ThaiBev would give Bt1 million for every goal scored against the Spanish heavyweights, as the Thai side warm up for the SEA Games later this year in Myanmar.
The Catalans are scheduled to arrive at Don Mueang Airport by chartered flight on Monday. Ticket holders can watch Barcelona’s open training session at Rajamangala Stadium on August 6, but ThaiBev has also held back 10,000 tickets for general fans to watch the likes of Messi and Brazil starlet Neymar train.
Fans can exchange two labels from any Chang-branded product for one ticket at the Indoor Hua Mark stadium on Monday from 2pm to 6pm, where Barca are set to kick-off their training session at 6.
