“Barcelonismo is more alive than ever”. Xavi Hernández, the Barça coach, is proud of the response that the culé has had in this “remarkable start” seasonal, as he himself has defined it. Remarkable because the team has added 16 points out of 18 and is the provisional leader of the League, awaiting the outcome of the Madrid derby that would take place between Atlético and Madrid at the Metropolitano, and notable because thousands of fans are back in their temple.
The Camp Nou is more crowded every day. And that the rivals who have set foot in the Barça stadium at this start of the season do not belong to the noble zone of the League. Neither of the Champions. But the fan, after the pandemic and the frustration of two disconcerting years, has returned to his house.
The attendance at the duel with Elche remains as proof, set, according to official data, at 85,073. It was a game without a special attraction because it measured Xavi’s team against the bottom team in the First Division, but even so the fan hasn’t stopped going.
“There is illusion. And that illusion is felt in the stadium, in the street”
Xavi, Barça coach
“There is hope. And that hope is palpable in the stadium, in the street,” Xavi confessed, also surprised that “85,000 people have come to the stadium.” A figure that reinforces an increasingly upward trend. “People are plugged in, Barcelona fans are there, more alive than ever. In addition, they are enjoying themselves because they see that we give everything, that we run, that we fight…”, said the coach.
Official record of the course with Elche
In the four official matches, the Camp Nou, whose total capacity is 99,354 fans, has recorded large tickets. In the league debut against Rayo there were 81,104 spectators; 83,972 gathered during Valladolid’s visit to the culé stadium, while the European premiere with Viktoria Pilsen, another unrecognized rival, brought together 77,411 people.
The victory over Elche, bottom of the championship, has become the official record with 85,073 fans, only surpassed by the 91,062 spectators who gathered at Barça-City to fight ALS under the leadership of Juan Carlos Unzué. The Gamper against the Mexican Pumas, another anonymous enemy, allowed the presence of 83,021 fans.
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If those two friendlies are included, the average number of spectators stands at 83,607 fans because half a million spectators have attended those first six games of the season. If only the four official matches are analyzed (three in the League and one in the Champions League), the average would be 81,890 viewers.
To understand the great change, it is enough to review the last four games of last season where 230,561 spectators gathered at the Camp Nou. Now, in these first four games there have been 327,560 spectators. And no team ranked among the top 10 in the League has passed through the Barça temple.