Barcelona to make first trip to Australia in May

SYDNEY : Five-times European champions Barcelona will pay their first visit to Australia to play an A-League All Stars team in a friendly in Sydney next month, the club announced on Wednesday.

The match will take place at Sydney's 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium on Wednesday May 25, a few days before the A-League season comes to a conclusion with the championship "Grand Final".

Australia was a regular stop for major European clubs before the country was locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea attracting huge crowds for lucrative friendlies.

A video of more than 95,000 fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" before an exhibition match involving Liverpool at the Melbourne Cricket Ground went viral in 2013.

United and fellow English club Crystal Palace will play friendlies in Melbourne in July this year but plans for a first Glasgow derby outside Scotland were scuppered when Rangers pulled out of the Sydney Super Cup after complaints from fans.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Editing by Peter Rutherford)