Barcelona faced Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals. The first leg of the tie was balanced on 1-1 which set up an interesting second leg at the Camp Nou. However, Barcelona were outclassed by the German club for 90 minutes who took a 3 goal lead before Barcelona pulled 2 goals back in extra time at Camo Nou. But it was too late and they lost 3-2 crashing out of the Europa League.
Eintracht Frankfurt fans were behind their players during the entirety of the game. It was Barcelona’s home game, so everyone expected the Camp Nou to be full of Culers and Eintracht Frankfurt getting a lack of support. However, that was not the case. Around 25,000-30,000 fans were there at Camp Nou for Eintracht Frankfurt to support them on one of their biggest European away nights.
Reasons behind Camp Nou being full of Eintracht Frankfurt fans during Barcelona’s Europa League match
Barcelona coach Xavi had urged the Barcelona supporters to come to Camp Nou to support the Barcelona players. Barcelona gave 5,000 tickets to Eintracht Frankfurt following UEFA regulations. The club also requested the season ticket holders who were not coming for the Europa League match to give up their seats so that other Barcelona fans can come to create a big-game atmosphere. However, that was not the case.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta said when asked why so many Barcelona season ticket seats had given up their seats: “It’s a disgrace what has happened. I feel embarrassed.”
Xavi said: “Clearly the atmosphere did not help and the club is looking into why this happened. The players want to know why too.”
“It was a clear miscalculation on our part. This cannot be allowed to happen. It was more like a final with the stadium divided.”
“The atmosphere is not an excuse. The problem is a football one. We made too many errors. We made mistakes in all three goals and we have to look at ourselves. We did not play well. That is why we are out.”
MD requested an explanation of this situation from sources at the Barcelona club. This explanation was that, according to his investigations, Eintracht fans have bought tickets by land, sea and air. Through unofficial tour operators, from scalping, and have bought tickets from everywhere except Germany.
Enric Masip, an adviser to President Laporta, wrote on Twitter: “Everyone is within their right to sell their cards, but reality makes seeing a Camp Nou with so many rival fans very, very sad…”
