The second match at the Spotify Camp Nou was marred by chaos due to a problem with the app from which members were supposed to download their tickets. An hour before kickoff, the tickets disappeared from the app, causing kilometer-long queues outside the Fan Services Office at the stadium, where the club had promised to deliver them in person. The club even asked La Liga to delay the start of the match, as thousands of fans were still queuing when the ball started rolling, but the league refused.

It all starts again. 909 days after the last match, the Barça chant has once again echoed through the stands designed decades ago by Francesc Mitjans. A new stadium rises from the foundations of the old Camp Nou, uniting past and future around a ball that has found the back of the net four times against an Athletic Bilbao side that suffered a heavy defeat on a perfect day at Can Barça. Hansi Flick's team didn't falter on a beautiful day, one of those that will be remembered, not so much for a stadium that still has much work to do, but for the feeling it evoked. It's always great to return, and even more so when the team is performing well. The fans have returned to the stadium, and Flick's Barça is gradually becoming what is expected of them: a team that scores goals and is courageous, both in attack and defense.

A few months ago, I was talking to an American who had fallen in love with European football and was visiting Catalonia. "Why don't you cheer?" he asked, comparing it to English football. It's true, in Catalonia there's less enthusiasm than in other places. "I don't go to the stadium to sing," I replied. "I go to suffer."

Let's start by stating that the day Barça members can return to the completed Camp Nou, they will find it the best stadium in the world and will forget all the delays, the years spent at Montjuïc, and the lotteries to be able to go to Johan Cruyff or the Camp Nou halfway, the day they arrive. In this, there are no distinctions: everyone is eager to return home because there's no place like home, and when you return, the excitement of the re-opening makes up for the inconvenience.

With just five days to go until the first home game of the season, Barça has made it official that it will play Valencia this Sunday at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. "The club is working intensively to obtain the necessary administrative permits for the opening of the Spotify Camp Nou in the near future. For this reason, the match will ultimately be played at the Johan Cruyff Stadium," the club explained in a brief statement. "FC Barcelona thanks its members and fans for their understanding and support during such a complex and exciting process as returning to the new Spotify Camp Nou," the club continued.

After several postponements, Barça announced that their return to the renovated Camp Nou would be for the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 10, against Cesc Fàbregas' Como. A few days later, however, The club announced that it would not be possible in the end. because the necessary permits were not obtained. Now, construction continues against the clock, always with the goal of being able to partially open the stadium for the first home league match, against Valencia, in mid-September.

In mid-February, Barça called an informational meeting with members to discuss a return to Camp Nou. After failing to meet the first two proposed deadlines—November 2024 and early 2025—the club apologized by publishing a list of the many setbacks it had encountered since the start of the construction work. It was extensive. Broadly speaking, it absolved the construction company Limak and the club itself of responsibility. "These things happen," said vice president Elena Fort and head of operations Joan Sentelles. During the meeting with members, no specific reopening date was announced, and the message was that the stadium would return "when possible."

After a successful season, and still reeling from the league title, Barça is already starting to think about next season. In an interview last night on the special program Night of Champions On TV3, Laporta has spoken about Barça's return to the Camp Nou. The Barça president has assumed that the team will no longer play at Montjuïc and has set the opening of the new stadium for August 9 or 10, when the Joan Gamper Trophy match will take place. "This coming season we will go to the Spotify Camp Nou and, if all goes well, we will start by doing a pilot test at the Gamper," he stated. "We are working with this hypothesis and it will surely be so," he added. The president explained that the idea is for the first official match at the ground to take place in late September or early October, provided that La Liga allows Barça to play the first matches away from home. From then on, however, there will be a "progressive" return in terms of works and services: "Members will be able to see how the works evolve as the season progresses."