Barcelona to miss Camp Nou advantage this season as Europe’s largest soccer stadium is overhauled

BARCELONA: Beyond courting and developing some of the world’s top talent, Barcelona have also based their success on a strong home advantage thanks to Europe’s largest soccer stadium.

That will be different this season, when the team play at a smaller, less accessible stadium while their 99,000-seat Camp Nou undergoes a complete facelift that won’t be finished for at least three years.

Barcelona will spend their time away from Camp Nou at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium, which can hold 49,000 people. That will surely translate to a quieter, less intimidating atmosphere for rivals, as well as less revenue for a club still battling severe financial problems.

Some 35,000 people turned out for Barcelona’s first game at their temporary home on Tuesday, against Tottenham in a friendly that the club uses to present its team for the upcoming campaign. That’s compared to the 83,000 who showed up at Camp Nou for the equivalent game on year ago.

Coach Xavi Hernandez took the microphone to address the crowd that watched his team beat Tottenham 4-2. He asked them to hang in there.

“We have the same motivation as last season. But this season will not be easy. It will be an atypical season. We won’t be at our home,” Xavi told the stadium. “We will need you more than ever, need your support, your solidarity, your sacrifice. It is important that you make us feel like we were at Camp Nou.”

While Barcelona have proven beatable at home in recent years, there was a time not too long ago when they were nearly invincible at Camp Nou. With Lionel Messi and company at their best, Barcelona went more than seven years without losing a Champions League home game between September 2013 and December 2020. During that stretch it was also