Experiencing the highs and lows of Catalans
Chang (elephant) is a Thai word often used to metaphorically describe something big, and on a soccer pitch, arguably, there is no game at club level bigger than the clash between Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, a fixture dubbed as "El Clasico"
After becoming the first Thai brand to sponsor an English football club, Everton, with a shirt deal seven years ago, Thaibev, which makes Chang beer, made a pioneering move again in February by securing an unprecedented partnership with both the Spanish heavyweights, who have a long history of fierce rivalry on and off the pitch.
There was no doubt that no game could better illustrate how big the deals were than the “El Clasico”, undoubtedly one of the most anticipated matches by football fans around world. Thaibev subsequently decided to take Thai media to have a firsthand experience of the match, which has never been short of drama, before they make the contracts official at conferences due to take place in both Madrid and Barcelona later this week.
The events that unfolded at the Camp Nou stadium on a wet and chilly night in Barcelona were nothing short of dramatic after Real Madrid seemed certain to wrest the championship from their bitter rivals following a hard-fought 2-1 win in an action-packed match.
Given that Barcelona managed to trim down Real Madrid’s 10-point advantage at the top of the table to four over the past month, there was a thick air of anticipation in Spain’s second biggest city, with Barca fans hoping that the momentum in the final stretch of the title race would swing back in their favour if Josep Guardiola’s men came away with a win.
It was no exaggeration to say that all roads led to the 90,000-capacity Camp Nou, with thousands of Barcelona supporters, almost all of them donning the club’s shirts, heading towards the stadium surrounded by residential areas.
The area around the famed stadium was covered by the mist of Barcelona’ red and blue colours hours before the kick-off. Fans of all ages and races could be seen, the most notable being an Asian supporter sporting a Barca shirt with the name of Japan’s famous cartoon character, Tsubasa, on the back. There were also some people holding cards that read “We want to buy tickets” wandering around even though a ticket for the match reportedly was raised as high as ?5,000.
However, the price of tickets appeared to have been dwarfed in comparison to the total valuation of both sets of players on the pitch, with Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo alone costing Real Madrid a world transfer record ?80 million when they signed him from Manchester United in 2009.
Around one-and-a-half hours before the game, the bus carrying Real players under the police escort arrived at the stadium, a sight that instantly sparked loud whistling from Barca fans queuing up to enter into the stadium.
The noise of whistling still accompanied the Real players when they emerged out of the tunnel to start their routine warm-up, while the home team’s counterparts, who came out shortly afterwards, were predictably received with rapturous reception. When the stadium’s announcer read out each name in the hosts’ line-up, fans responded with cheers, with the biggest one reserved for three-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi.
There were only a few hundred Real fans sitting at the designated area for away fans at the top-tier of the stands at one end behind the goal. They tried to make their presence felt by singing vociferously during the run-in to the kick-off.
Barca cheers reached their crescendo when the club’s song was played in the stadium before the start of the game, while fans performed the card display of the team’s colours.
Guardiola’s side, though, got off to the worst possible start when they went behind after 17 minutes with a scrappy Samir Khedira goal. The shell-shocked home support took time before starting to cheer again, with their hopes no doubt lying on Messi. There was always an air of anticipation whenever the diminutive Argentine received the ball but Real were able to keep him at bay for the first 45 minutes.
Rain started falling when the match approached the half-time, leaving many home support to cover their heads with the paper cards they displayed earlier. Fortunately, the dark cloud dispersed after the restart and it seemed things looked to have taken turn for better for Barca fans when substitute Alexis Sanchez restored parity. Such was the scale of the celebrations that the stadium appeared to be shaken from its foundation.
The home joy had barely died down when Ronaldo latched on to a defence-splitting pass from Ozil before slipping the ball under Valdes to score what proved to be the winner. Having criticised as being too physical in their previous meetings, Real players, Ronaldo in particular, ironically fell to the ground easily, especially during the closing stages, the most notable being the Portuguese’s theatrical fall near one corner which triggered a flurry of objects thrown from the stands.
Nevertheless, they took a giant step towards regaining the league title they last won in 2008.
