FC BARCELONA (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys)

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE, FC BARCELONA 2-1 SHAKHTAR DONETSK, ATTENDANCE: 41,409

Tonight I took the opportunity to head to Catalonia to pay a visit to a ground that, until this season, has been very rarely used for football since 2009.

Camp Nou, the iconic home of FC Barcelona, is being renovated so, for season 2023/24, Barca are playing their home games at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. From 1997 to 2009 the stadium was home to city rivals Espanyol, before they moved to a purpose built stadium of their own. 

Ironically it was because of the previous tennants of this ground that tickets were easy to come by as many Barcelona supporters are supposedly boycotting games because they refuse to set foot in a ground that was once home to their bitter rivals. Indeed tonight was not a sell out and tickets were readily available to purchase at the ticket offices.

The stadium, originally known as Estadi de Montjuic, was built in 1929 for the World Exhibition and was also to be used as the main stadium for Spain's (unsuccessful) bid for the 1936 Olympic games. The stadium fell into a state of disrepair however when, in 1987, Barcelona were finally awarded the summer games for 1992, it was completely gutted, renovated and expanded, with just the original facade remaining.

The centrepiece of the 1992 Olympic games it was where Linford Christie (100 metres) and Sally Gunnell (400 metres) triumphed to win gold for Great Britain and also, famously, where Derek Redmond was helped around the track by his father after pulling up with a torn hamstring in the 400 metres semi-final.

Post Olympic games the stadium the stadium was used for both soccer and American football but has been has used sporadically since Espanyol left in 2009. In 2002 the stadium was renamed Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys after the president of the Catalan government during the Spanish Civil War, who was executed at the nearby Montjuïc Castle in 1940.

This evening Barcelona were hosting Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages of the Champions League.

After finally finding my seat in the ground, as none of them appear to be numbered, I sat down to watch Barça consolidated their position at the top of Group H with a third win in three, almost ensuring qualification to the knockout stages, thanks to a 2-1 victory over their Ukrainian opponents.

Barca were in complete control of the game and had more than enough chances to win comfortably but almost threw it away towards the end, when the visitors nearly snatched an unlikely draw.

Barcelona's Goals came from Ferran Torres (28) and Fermin Lopez (36) with Georgly Sudakov (62) replying for Shakhtar.

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Prior to the big game in the evening, the equivalent youth game took place in the afternoon. The game was played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, named in honour of the legendary player and coach, where around 600 spectators gathered to watch goals from Noah Darvich (15) and Juan Hernandez (85) ensure victory for the Barça youngsters.

LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW (Lokomotiv Stadium)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE,
LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW 0-1 SCHALKE 04, ATTENDANCE: 21,471

Wednesday was a dedicated football day involving a double header and plenty of beer. What could possibly go wrong?

First port of call though was a visit to Lenin's mausoleum. The former Soviet leader's embalmed body has been on display since his death in 1924. There were plenty of people queueing and it took 40 minutes before I finally entered the tomb. It was a surreal experience.

From there I headed on the red-line metro from Okhotny Ryad but today it was in the opposite direction to the Luzhniki Stadium. Cherkizovskaya is the nearest stop to the Lokomotiv Stadium though my first game of the day was at the adjacent Sapsan Arena, which is also home to Lokomotiv's farm club FC Kazanka, who play in the third tier of Russian football.

The game was the respective youth fixture between Lokomotiv and Schalke. Entrance was free but there was no paper available. The match somehow finished goalless, as the Germans squandered numerous chances. It was an entertaining game to watch nonetheless.

The weather was appalling today as the rain lashed down. It didn't help that the roof in the small section of the stand that you were allowed to sit in was leaking so some of the available seats were drenched. I just about managed to keep myself dry. 

After the youth game, I had about 3 hours to kill, so I Headed back into town for a few light ales before the main event. The main event in question tonight was the Russian Champions Lokomotiv Moscow against German giants Schalke 04. 

the RULE Taproom. a welcome revisit.

The famous Lokomotiv train outside the RZD Arena

Lokomotiv were famously described as Moscow's fifth wheel as, during the Soviet era, Dynamo, Spartak, CSKA and Torpedo all won the Soviet title, the Railwaymen never did better than a second-placed finish and a couple of cup wins.

Lokomotiv were originally founded in 1922 as Kazanka Moscow, where they brought together the best footballing railway workers. In 1936 the club changed their name to Lokomotiv and won the Soviet Cup.

In the post soviet era though Lokomotiv have been a major force winning the  Russian Premier League in 2002, 2004 and 2018 as well as the Russian Cup in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2015 and 2017. The majority of this success has been under the management of Yuri Semin, who returned to the coach the team in 2016 after initially being in charge from 1986 to 1990 and then 1992 to 2005. The club is also backed financially by RZD (hence the sponsored name of the stadium) which is a subsidiary company of the Russian state railway.

The Lokomotiv Stadium was built between 2000 and 2002 and is on the site of the original Stalinest Stadium which was opened in 1935. The ground missed out on selection for the World Cup due to not meeting FIFA's capacity criteria as it only holds 28,000. I say only holds 28,000 but that is more than enough for Lokomotiv's needs as in 2017/18 their average gate was around 12,500.

There were no problems obtaining a ticket for tonight's game as they were easily available online and printed at home.

The game though was an absolutely turgid affair. In mitigation the rain that had battered the capital all day didn't let up during the game and it meant that English referee Anthony Taylor had a pretty easy night.

Weston McKennie, whose name sounds like he is from Scotland but is actually an American from Texas, headed home in the 88th minute to give 'Die Königsblauen' the victory. The German fans in the corner celebrated as Schalke got their first win in this seasons Champions League but for Lokomotiv that is two defeats in their opening two games.

After sitting through that game I was in desperate need of another beer and fortunately Parka, not far from my hotel, was on hand to see me well into the wee small hours. Yра!