La Liga side FC Barcelona have been training in England the past few days for their pre-season preparations as they get ready to take on Celtic at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin this weekend. They also play Premier League champions Leicester City on 3 August in Stockholm, Sweden.
While one would expect the Catalan club to have some serious training drills ahead of the new season, the players were in for a surprise when they walked out on to the pitch to find pink and blue “bubbles” strewn on the pitch. That’s when it hit them.
They would be playing a game of bubble football – a game that has risen in popularity across the globe. Usually used as half-time entertainment for the fans or the like, it involves players ensconced in a huge bubble that absorbs all sorts of impact, be it from another player or the ground.
Players are always safe no matter what thanks to the huge bubble around them. And the normally subdued, tiki-taka playing Barcelona side were at their physical best when they wore the bubbles.
Nobody was spared, not even Luis Suarez or Lionel Messi who had cracks at goal. Ultimately, even Jeremy Mathieu managed to score!
