It says something about the status of Barcelona as one of the world’s greatest football cities that not only is the venue for our game against Andorra not the prime stadium in town– that title surely belongs to the Nou Camp – but Espanyol, the second Primera Liga club in the Catalan capital, are merely temporary tenants here while their new home, a 42,000capacity 4-star stadium in the suburb of Cornella, is prepared for opening later this year.
The Lluis Companys EstadiOlimpic, to give our match venue here its full name, was originally built in the early 1920s for the 1929Expo, and is located on the Montjuic mountain, to the south-west of the city centre. It was completely renovated in the1980s in order to make it suitable for hosting some of the events in the1992 Olympics, which explains the10-lane running track and the large distances between the stands behind the goals and the pitch itself.
Those distances won’t however pose much of a problem in our game, as the 56,000 all-seater capacity of the ground has been cut to 23,000,with the ends behind the goals not being used. Of the 23,000 available places in the stadium, 13,000 tickets were offered to the English Football Association – the whole of the stand opposite the tunnel and dugouts, and accessible via gates numbers 3 to 6.The stand on the other side holds around 10,000, and we were told that once allowance had been made for the media, VIPs etc, some 9,000 tickets were to be sold by the Andorran FA.
Of these they expected at least half to be sold to people who would come to support England – for instance many of the large community of English ex-pats living in Spain. Given though that the usual Andorran support, even when games are played in their own capital of Andorra La Vella, numbers at most a few hundred, then it’s more than likely that the ground will have the feel of an England home game, with perhaps 90% of those present supporting the Three Lions.
Almost all of the seating in the ground is uncovered, certainly in the England section; there are no obstructions to the view in terms of pillars or posts. Free Lions was told that they intend to encourage people to occupy the seats for which the tickets have been issued, and that some 50 stewards will be deployed in the English sector to show us where to go.
Nonetheless, it may well be worth noting in advance that when you find the aisle leading you to the block for which your ticket has been issued, the seats are not consecutively numbered; the odd-numbered seats go off in one direction, while across the aisle, the even-numbered seats in the same row of the same block begin. It is worth noting too that while there will be refreshments on sale inside the stadium (no alcohol, under UEFA rules), there is precious little available outside in the vicinity of the ground, particularly on the England side.
Getting to the EstadiOlimpic
As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, the EstadiOlimpic is located on the Montjuic mountain, which is not far from the Ramblas and the city centre, certainly no more than two miles. However, it’s in the nature of mountains that the route to the top of them tends to be uphill, and that’s definitely a factor to be taken into consideration when planning how you’re going to get to the ground.
Best bet for getting up there for the game is definitely the free shuttle buses that have been laid on. These will start running about two hours before kick-off judging from past experience, from the Placa Espanya. Gates usually open 90 minutes before kick-off. To get to Placa Espanya from the city centre, take the Metro – either Line 1, the red line, from Placa Catalunyain the direction of Hospital de Bellvitge, or Line 3, the green line, from PlacaCatalunya, Liceu or Drassanes in the direction of Zona Universitaria.
All of these Metro journeys are included in the travel cards that the city offers, costing €5.25 for one day, €9.60 for two days, or €6.90 for a book of ten tickets that can be split among a group. Less clear is whether the free shuttle buses will be running back after the game; it’s clearly less crucial though, as the road back into town is downhill! There are alternative methods of getting there, of course, such as taxis, or there’s also a funicular railway that goes up the hill. Take the green Number 3 Metro line to Paral-el, and then take the funicular up the hillside to the next level at AvenidaMiramar for the stadium. This route will however not accommodate huge numbers of people, so the shuttle buses are still the best bet.
