It was amazing to be among 91,000 record crowd to see Barcelona women thrash Real Madrid

The Catalan sky hung heavy, rain threatened to dampen the huge occasion, crushing traffic too. Ten minutes to kick-off between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Uefa Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg and the previous talk of a 90,000-plus crowd seemed fanciful.

There were empty seats everywhere, football’s biggest football ground was nowhere near full as Barca’s anthem blared out.

By the time Barcelona, easily the pre-eminent force in female football, took the lead after eight minutes, thousands more seats had been occupied and a world-record crowd for a women’s game was becoming a reality.

The crowd was very different from that which normally watches Barca’s men, except the usual vocal fans were there behind the north goal with their flags and songs. It felt like an important game rather than a tourist festival.

“And it’s very different to the 6,000 who normally watch Barça’s women team at the Johan Cruyff stadium,” opined Juanpi, who was in the next seat behind the south goal. Younger, more female and lots of families taking advantage of tickets which cost €3.50 plus a €2.50 booking fee. It sold out in four days, mostly to local people, but there’s always a risk that with tickets so cheap, those people will not show.

Huge one-off crowds have been to other women’s games when the team have played in their club’s main stadium, with critics dismissing them as a free-for-all. Having to pay for a ticket shows some value.

I was part of that new demographic, since I took my daughters, aged 7 and 11. They’re getting into football because their friends are into it.

Andy Mitten's daughters watch the game at Camp Nou. Andy Mitten

They collect football stickers, follow men’s football and were so excited to visit a