After a disappointing El Clasico loss, I completed Part Deux of my Football Pilgrimage with Barcelona featuring in an edge of the seat come from behind win. Here's my fortress Nou Camp experience amongst the vociferous crowd.
For a start, I need to thank the almighty for stopping the drizzle just before the game. Else in that 10-degree chill, even my disposable rainwear would have only given limited relief.
150 minutes into my Football pilgrimage, I was wondering if my trip was jinxed. A loss to Real Madrid and trailing to an utterly hard on knuckles Atletico Madrid team 0-1. Three days and as the season seemed to be cutting short, I called upon the almighty.
The almighty and team Barcelona aside, the Nou Camp had a big role to play in the win. The Nou Camp was electrifying, the crowd was the 12th player and it was an incredible experience to see first hand of what a home game means to a club encounter.
Here are six crowd behaviour points that were buzzing around the stadium and intimidating on-field personnel in some areas.
1. Oblak time wasting
From the opening minutes onwards goalie, Jan Oblak was playing with fire. Each of his goal kicks would come well after his own defenders walked beyond the half way mark towards.
This is the same tactic Mourinho's teams and Chelsea in 2012 played at Nou Camp. The crowd knew that. From the opening minute onwards (the pic above), they whistled, jeered and booed loudly every time he delayed. It was a matter of time before he got carded. Once that happened, the goal kicks started flying in faster!
2. Cholo plan not solo
Against popular belief, Cholo Simeone came up with two plans for this game. Initially, he set up a 4-3-3 (and not his traditional 4-5-1 or 4-4-2) and believed Atletico could get the lead. He was right. This pic is of the 6th min and very unlike of this team, almost all Atletico players are in the Barca half.
I wish he continued that tactic well after the lead rather than getting his players to hack around. When you play negative football, you get only cards, reciprocations, controversies and ugliness.
This game, amongst the top two sides in Spain currently, deserved better than 10 yellow cards, one red card and 2+5 minutes of injury time. Simeone's Argentina of the 1990 World Cup was roundly booed across the world as playing only negative football.
But coaches like Jose Mourinho, aided by the powerful London media, have made this brand of football now be called tactical and strategic. The basic intent of football, when you give a ball to a child, is to kick the ball and score a goal. You never tell him to kick another's foot!
When Simone's team was attacking, the crowd was silent even early into the game. Once the hacking started they knew it was time for them to make a meal of every tackle and pressurise the referee.
3. Barca on the rampage
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona would struggle with passes and openings after being 0-1 down. It would psyche them out in big matches every time they fell behind. Luis Enrique's Barcelona are different, more direct and incisive. Even when 0-1 down, and the fear that it could be 0-2 anytime, they literally had ten people in the last third of the pitch.
Once an attack would end, most of the times, the Catalans would stay in the Atletico half and snatch back the ball. The crowd would at this time go 'Barcaaa Barcaaa' (clap, clap, clap), Barcaaa Barcaaa' (clap, clap, clap) In the second half this was happening almost every third minute!
4. Atletico never lost shape
At any point, you could draw three straight lines showing 1-4-4 or two straight parallel lines with 5-4 – ie. a wall of five midfielders and behind them another wall of four defenders. Despite the loss,
Atletico's defence gets 10/10 marks. Any other team may have lost by a 5-6 goal margin as more than ten clear cut goal scoring chances were created by the Blaugrana. The crowd appreciated this defending and at times clapped too.
However when it turned ugly, ie any Barca player would be fouled, or at least, it seemed from that distance, the crowd would go wild urging the officials to act.
5. The win
This panoramic shot I took immediately after the final whistle, going up the stands and loved it totally. It showcases the cauldron atmosphere of the Nou Camp, almost a boiling pot, for opposition teams.
6. The walk home
The crowd returned home with a spring in their step. After El Clasico, the crowd returning was disjointed and not showing much emotion. Here everyone was moving faster, pushing each other, there was talk about the slender win, about the away goal and the come from behind spirit of Barca.
It was a fabulous, mesmerising (despite Messi not scoring!) and an exhilarating experience. But I need to stop now as I need to rush to Paris for the concluding part of my pilgrimage. Do watch out!
