Luis: " you're all like that" hahahah

Pretty interesting experience. Also, you can't help feel a bit sad for the poor folk who couldn't watch their team play. However, suprised to see they only show us people complaining and being sad. Does it mean there wasn't a single comprehensive or patriotic Catalan person in there? And its a bit annoying to see all those tourist complain about having to pay for their flight and their stay at a hotel. I mean, if I would have the money to make the trip, I would wait a bit and try to see a much better game than this, like Barca against Atletico or Real for example. I know I'm not very understanding but its hard for me not to take Barca side on this...

@Emo: fair point, but mind you that people plan vacation not only based on a football match.

@tuan_jinn I get you but obviously, if their vacation plan wasn't only focused on football, then shouldn't that game be considered like a nice plus to their vacation? Instead, we have tons of people who act like it was the only reason they paid a plane ticket or rented a room at a hotel. I don't know, I feel like the report is a bit bias against Barca and Catalan, thats might just be me being paranoid because I'm hoping they get their independence, but thats a bit how I feel about the whole thing. :(

I don't care about that boy. I think he is crying on purpose to get media attention and meet Messi personally. Touché little douche

@Marcus Lol, your really are heart and mind aren't you. :D

Did I miss something here? Why did they play with no crowd?

I hate seeing so many people with no option to watch their favorite team play. I can only imagine myself frustrated in that situation. You could say half the fans are foreigners who probably planned everything to live their first ever experience on that stadium.. That just sucks. I would be furious but I still need to know the reason for the decision in order to take sides.

Regarding the audio, Its fun to see how harsh the players are with referees. I thought they wouldn't be so lenient towards those claims. And interesting to see how a referee decided wether a player is simulating a foul or not depending on if the player asks for penalty after the fall.

@Tuanis Catalan were having vote for their independance sometime before the game and people who went to vote were injured when they come in contact with Spanish police force. Barca wanted to report the game to make a statement about it but La Liga refused, so in the end, they chosed to play the game but in an empty stadium. I'm sorry if my version isn't very clear but thats the shortest way I could explain it.

Ok fine but they should have let the people go into the stadium then.. That is just a statement that proves how little does Barcelona care about fans. The referendum doesn't really affect football of the club itself on that specific day. I still don't get Barcelona's standpoint on all of this. It frustrates me even more that they decided to let people out, not the authorities.

@Tuanis Well, considering it touch the topic of Catalan independance, you can bet Barcelona was gonna react (they have alway been heavily involved with it), I'm not saying its fair for the fan, but if La Liga would have agreed to report the game a day or two later, I'm pretty sure a lots of those people would have still been in spain at the time and could have still seen it. :(

You want them to start a riot inside the stadium? With such a tense time as a referendum, all it takes is one hooligan to start a massive fight or injure somebody or protest in an inappropriate manner. And then what would be the consequences for Barca? Probably lost points on the table and fines to pay.

Barcelona took the safe route by not permitting any fans. They prioritized their reputation and the safety of the people who were wishing to attend the game. Any sane group of management would have also taken the same decision.

@Dynastian Agreed, that also make a lots of sense, but my problem with that is that the club made a statement that it wasn't for security purpose. Though they could very much lie because they don't want people to think their security isn't good enough to protect them even in those kind of situation. Anyway, if the Catalan manage to become independant, I really wonder what will happen with La Liga and with the spot in Champion League. :(

It's a publicity stunt to manipulate the people.
If they didn't have enough security to organise the game they would have said it but they for their own political purposes turned against their own citizens/fans.
All the things they did that day were not even legal but ofc they wont be honest about it.

Barcelona took the safe route by not permitting any fans. They prioritized their reputation and the safety of the people who were wishing to attend the game. Any sane group of management would have also taken the same decision.

Totally agree.

It's a publicity stunt to manipulate the people.
If they didn't have enough security to organise the game they would have said it but they for their own political purposes turned against their own citizens/fans.
All the things they did that day were not even legal but ofc they wont be honest about it.

Why invite trouble? Most of the world wouldn't give two sh*ts about Catalonia if it wasn't for the soccer team. If there was ever going to be some display it would've been at that game, and inevitably security would get involved, leading to arrests/fighting/stampede, pick your poison. It would have been a bad look for the club, who no doubt would've been punished, and for their worldwide support, who worship Barca, but not necessarily their political position.

If I was in charge I wouldn't have played the game at all to avoid all of the above, but Barca solved the problem by playing it behind closed doors. Which works.

Now I want you to appreciate exactly how bad your point is by offering a simple question: what is the point of a soccer game? Fun, excitement, escape from the mundane daily life, etc. Sports is entertainment. By not allowing fans into the stadium they are not "turning against their own citizens/fans." First of all, THEY ARE A SPORTS TEAM. They don't have "citizens." As for their fans, the first thing you prioritize in facility management is the safety of people. The Barca managers could not guarantee that, so they made, in my mind, the only decision possible, which was to not allow fans into the stadium, regardless if the game was played or not.

I know they have their bs slogans such as "more than a club." When they risk their position in the soccer world to prove that, then I'll believe them. But it never has happened in the past, and I doubt it is going to happen in the future. They aren't Catalonia's mouthpiece. They're a frikin soccer team. And nothing they have ever done has proved otherwise. And there's nothing wrong with that.

1. Fans wanted to see their club play.
   There is no evidence of a riot going on with the fans, if they were hooligans they would have stormed through the closed gates anyway in their rage but that was not the case at all, in fact nobody at the stadium made problems even after they were rejected by their own club.

2. If 89 000 people don't really care about what is happening in another part of the city and just want to watch football, it's only the excuse of their club to not let them in. If they had all police somewhere else and couldn't host the game they would have said it, but instead they made it as a political stunt because it fits their agenda.

Otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell the story about their agenda if even when they want to paint a picture of some independence there is a full stadium just watching the game, not caring about the issue.

1. The majority of the people are actually against the independence, the self proclaimed voting is not legal as it goes against the constitution of Spain and lastly the so called oppression to the Catalan people is not real as reality/history has shown that Spain allows them to speak, and teach their language in schools, Spain built industries in their region just as thry did in Basque to please the people and officially Spain has accepted many deals with Catalonia throughout the years making their affairs more than fair.

2. Now people from outside may choose to listen to someone like Pique that also only wants to manipulate the situation. He was OK playing for Spain his whole life but now he is making statements like a classical hypocrite. Anyone with half a brain knows that his comments about how "they" couldn't do anything when Franco was in charge are stupid and taken out of context, whoever gets baited into that knows nothing about Spanish history.

@Golazo Well of course, in this case, your acceptance of what Barca did will alway be influenced by how you feel about Catalonia independence. In my case, I know what it is to want your independence from another more powerful nation. Yeah, Spain has done good thing for the Catalan but its to try and prevent thing like that. By giving Catalonia stuff, they at least ensure that they look like the good guy in situation like this. I would be really curious which of Spain and Catolonia need the other more. :U

@Emo The two things are connected first of all, second my opinion is based on the fact that Catalonia was never a country historically and Spain as a nation has been united for a long time, look at some other countries that went into independece or splitted up, when you divide a nation it's pretty much always worse. It's a lose lose situation based on greed of the side that wants to split up but the majority of people do not wish for that anyway.

@Golazo Depend on the country or region that want to become independent, patriotism will sometime be so strong that they won't care if splitting come at a heavy price, thats just how some people are. Majority of peope in non Catalan region don't want Catalonia to become independent because they know that in end, if this was to happen, it would mean lossing ressource and a serious amount of income which would results in the Spanish gouvernement having to compensate for it somewhere else. Same stuff happened in Canada, when we tried voting for Quebec independence, we had tons of English Canadian people making it clear they thought it was ridiculous. Reality is, most of them needed us to be part of Canada more than with needed them imho. Anyway, I guess its pretty obvious that I'm biased on the matter but I do sincerely believe there is a huge majority of Catalan who wish for independence and thats what really matter. Imo, what the rest of Spain think shouldn't matter. Propably won't happen but I still think Catalonia deserve credit for trying to do it in a democratic and civil manner. :)