Playing an European match away from home is always one of the most difficult thing ever for a football club, but Entracht Frankfurt were fortunate in their travel to Barcelona on Thursday as the home fans sold out their own team.
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Frankfurt fans took over the Camp Nou Stadium to propel their side into a place in Europa League last four. (Photo by Adria Puig/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Of all teams, it was Frankfurt. Of all grounds, it was at the Camp Nou. What in the world was Barcelona fans thinking when they allowed the German fans to get hold of most of the tickets sold out for their crunch quater final second leg clash in the Europa League.
Barcelona fans have found themselves in one of the most embarrassing situation in modern football as German fans dominated in counts and in roars at the Camp Nou when Frankfurt visited for a place in the last four of the UEFA Europa League.
The stress of having to travel 1093 kilometers from Frankfurt am Main to Barcelona is obviously nothing for German fans as they turn up in thousands to humiliate Barcelona and their fans after sealing progression into the last four of the Europa League
Prior to the decisive second leg game at the Barcelona’s stadium, Frankfurt were on a poor run of six games without a win, including a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg the weekend before taking on Barcelona for the second leg game in the Europa League last eight.
The side, managed by Oliver Glasner have moved down the Bundesliga table due to the run of poor results and have not scored more than once in each of their last six games before kickoff at Camp Nou.
In the afternoon of Thursday, German fans were spotted in their thousands on the streets of Barcelona walking and singing praises of their team ahead of kickoff scheduled for night.
Base on estimation, Frankfurt had around 30,000 fans in the Camp Nou of which officially, only 5,000 tickets was sold to the away fans.
Frankfurt fans at the Camp Nou Stadium
Apparently, a good number of Barcelona fans have sold their ticket to the away fans, which prompted the mass arrival in Barcelona of the German fans for the crunch tie.
Barcelona were shocked and didn’t know what hit them. Manager Xavi Hernandez said in his post match interview when asked about ‘the presence of the German fans?’, he replied, “It was a miscalculation and the club is reviewing it. It looked like a final, with the fans divided.”
To the credit of the Frankfurt fans, they really made their presence count for their team and were rewarded with an early penalty after Eric Garcia hauled down Lindstrom in the area with the Spanish defender earning himself a booking in the process.
That was the fourth penalty Barcelona have conceded in two games, as many as they had conceded in 55 games before.
Serbian playmaker Filip Kostic made no mistake from 12 yards as he slammed a left footed spot kick into the right bottom corner, sending Marc Andres Ter Stegen the wrong way.
It got worse for the host as the intensity of the cheers from the crowd from Germany became too much to handle and the advantage was doubled six minutes after the half hour mark.
Rafael Borre received an harmless pass from Kostic and the Colombian striker unleashed a thunderbolt from range. Ter Stegen was no match for the strike and it traveled into the top left corner of the net.
It was the eighth goal Barcelona have conceded from outside the box across all competitions this season, the most they’ve conceded in a single campaign since the 2005-06 season.
With the assist, Filip Kostic becomes the first player to score and assist in a single European game against Barcelona at Camp Nou since Juninho Pernambucano for Olympic Lyon in March 2009 in the Champions League.
Filip Kostic stars on a night to forget for Barcelona. (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
His night was to get better though as he was on the end of a pass from Kamada in the 67th minute, burying his low shot past Ter Stegen for the second time on the night to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. It was at that moment that all and sundry knew that the Germans have indeed runaway with the ticket.
Barcelona fans tried to return into the stadium in large numbers at the break but the momentum was already on the side the passionate German fans, who dictated the atmosphere around the stadium to help their side feel at home and leave their host in no man’s land.
They managed to score two late goals but it was obvious it is impossible for them to get anything from the match with time running out and the referee sounds his whistle for the final time immediately after restart after Memphis Depay’s penalty.
It finished 3-2 to the visitors, who milk every moment of the excitement at the Camp Nou, adding insult to injury already inflicted on their host. The predominant colour in the Camp Nou on the night never really showed Frankfurt were the away team.
Club president, Joan Laporta said, “It is a shame we have to experience this here today. It can not happen again. We have a lot of information about what has happened and we have time to go over it.”
“As a Culer, I feel ashamed and I am really sorry about what I have seen.” he added.
Barcelona were on a run of 15 games without a win as Xavi’s genius since taken over has seen them move from ninth to second place in the league. It is very devastating to relate what the fans have done to allow them lose their only realistic route to winning a silverware this season.
Barcelona will continue to play in the remaining La Liga games even though it will take more than a miracle for them to catch up with runaway leaders, Real Madrid.
The lesson is learnt in a very tough way for Culers, who will never want to experience such humiliation in the future but this they have done will go down as one of the most embarrassing occurence in mordern football.
