Every detail was unmissable, every gesture to retain, every moment to keep forever. It was not just any day. It was "a game day", but above all it was the day of the last match at the Camp Nou until the stadium is fully renovated. Now will come the exodus from Montjuïc and the expected return home scheduled for November 2024, but before that it was time to say goodbye to the Barcelona home since 1957 in style. The club did it hand in hand with its mass of members and fans, alive, enthusiastic, throbbing and delivered on an emotional slide. To an authentic parade for its history, for its present and also for its future.
In this situation, the least important thing was the result of the match, although for the annals it will remain that Barça beat Mallorca with great solvency. A match in which Xavi's team put intensity, desire, ardor and brilliant actions. Like the one that opened the scoring only to start, an electric combination between Busquets, Lewandowski and Gavi, which gave Ansu Fati the goal. A mix of experience, youth and uncertainty as the forward's ownership and gestures also had a farewell tint. Fati is known in the market and can be revalued with performances like this. Well, then he scored the second, also after excellent assistance at the first touch of a generous Lewandowski. The Pole brushed the third with a free kick to the crossbar. The one who did it, on the other hand, with a dry shot with his left foot was an acclaimed Gavi.
Luxury goals that made the audience enjoy themselves, who started the game shouting “champions, champions”, who thunderously chanted Messi's name in the 10th minute and partially remembered Espanyol with chants of “a Segunda”. Mallorca, meanwhile, behaved like a proper guest, except for a violent attack by Amath Ndiaye on Balde. He sent him directly to the infirmary, with a broken right ankle and a very worried face. The referee, after seeing the game on the monitor, expelled the Mallorcan player.
It was a day for the people and the people knew it. "Thank you for so much joy, we will miss you", "4 generations of López at Camp Nou", "thank you for so many good times". A stream of fans, mostly dressed in Barça jerseys, swirled in the stadium's tribune esplanade and wrote their farewell message on a mural. There were still two hours left for the game but the Barcelona atmosphere was already spreading in a heated format. A few meters away, other supporters were posing with five great trophies from the club's history. Namely, the Basel Cup Winners' Cup, the first Wembley European Cup, the first Club World Cup, the last La Liga and the last Copa del Rey.
There was a sea of Lewandowski shirts, many of the long-awaited Messi, some of Pedri and Gavi and even one of the player Cruyff, given the vintage accent of the day.
The tone was festive, but above all goosebumps. Before starting, the voice of the legendary speaker Manel Vich could be heard again over the PA system, welcoming the stadium as he had done all his life.
The squad for the season that inaugurated the field on Mercè Day in 1957 was also recited. Los Ramallets, Olivella, Segarra, Vergés, Gensana, Basora, Villaverde, Eulogio Martínez, Kubala, Tejada or Luis Suárez were again named in the that once was his temple.
Although one of the moments that touched the fiber the most before the ball rolled was the intonation of the Cant del Barça a capella and at the top of the lungs by the venue al flake. At the same time, the stands acquired a dense blaugrana hue.
Then came the match, in which Ter Stegen managed to equalize, with 26, the record for clean sheets and in which Alba left with tears in her eyes and with the public standing up. Thunderous ovation that was repeated when Xavi relieved Busquets. What a party.
