Athletic

Ferran Torres scores brace to send Barcelona to the top of La Liga, level with Real Madrid, who face Elche on Sunday.

Barcelona were back at their beloved Camp Nou and produced a dominant 4-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao to add to the homecoming celebrations.

Some 45,000 fans were on hand on Saturday as what is set to be Europe’s largest football stadium reopened at roughly half capacity.

Camp Nou had been closed for more than two years for a major overhaul that the indebted club hopes will boost revenues.

Robert Lewandowski set the tone early, capitalising on an error in Athletic’s defence in the fourth minute. Alex Berenger mishandled the ball while attempting to play out from the back, allowing the Polish striker to seize possession and fire a low effort past Unai Simon at the near post.

Barcelona maintained control throughout, relentlessly pressuring an out-of-form Athletic side. Ernesto Valverde’s charges have only managed three wins since September, losing six of their last nine league fixtures.

Eighth in the table with 17 points, Athletic rarely threatened the hosts.

Barcelona struck again in first-half stoppage time. Lamine Yamal’s expertly delivered long ball into space found Torres, and the Spanish forward took the pass perfectly in his stride, raced into the area and calmly slotted past Simon.

Three minutes into the second half, Barcelona punished another defensive lapse by Athletic. Attempting to play out from the back, the visitors gifted possession to the alert Fermin Lopez, who rifled a bullet strike into the net.

Athletic’s frustrations boiled over when Oihan Sancet was sent off with a straight red card in the 53rd minute following a reckless challenge on Lopez.

In the closing stages, Torres added his second, rounding off another counterattack set up by the 18-year-old Yamal, who provided a second sublime assist.

The win pulled Barcelona level on points with Real Madrid atop the table before Madrid visits Elche on Sunday.

“We played well from the start and took another three points, but the important thing today is being back at Camp Nou,” Lewandowski said. “It is something else to play here. I think when we play at Camp Nou, we are a little bit stronger.”

Barcelona’s fans belted out the club hymn before kickoff amid a celebratory vibe despite the chilly weather.

They had reason to be extra happy. The last time they had been able to attend a game at Camp Nou was May 2023. For the following 900-plus days, Barcelona played their home games at the municipally owned 55,000-seat Olympic Stadium located atop a hill overlooking the city that was more difficult to reach.

“It has been two years at the [Olympic Stadium] and it wasn’t easy, the atmosphere wasn’t the same, you could tell it wasn’t Camp Nou,” the 36-year-old fan Carlos Narváez told The Associated Press.

“This is like coming home. I am sure the players will feel that way, just like we fans do. You can see how excited everyone is.”

But homecoming aside, there is still significant work before the new-look Camp Nou is finished and ready to hold 105,000 fans.

The top tier of Camp Nou remains mostly a skeleton of metal and concrete beams and pillars; huge construction cranes loom over the stadium and are visible from the stands, and there are areas that look like a construction site.

Work on upgrading Camp Nou began in June 2023 to repair, modernise and expand a venue that previously had a capacity of 99,000. The club secured 1.45 billion euros (then $1.6bn) from multiple investors to undertake the remodelling project.

Barcelona had originally planned to be back playing games at Camp Nou as early as November 2024 to coincide with the club’s 125th anniversary. The date was pushed back several times, and the club has not said when it now expects the stadium work to be completed. The club said it plans to seek permission from authorities to open more seating as work progresses.

Barcelona also received authorisation from UEFA this week to host Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou on December 9.

This was Newcastle’s first European campaign since 1977.

It was also their first since the ban on English clubs playing on the continent after the Heysel Stadium disaster had been lifted in 1990.

There was still a reasonable police presence in Bilbao on what was a national holiday.

Supporter Karl Pedley recalled how Newcastle fans were accompanied into San Mames by “full riot police, some of whom were armed”.

However, just a few minutes into the game, he noticed how “a number of them had sat down with their helmets and pads off, and were enjoying what we were doing”.

There was no edge, even after Newcastle were defeated 1-0, and Athletic fans invaded the pitch and sprinted towards the away end to applaud the travelling support.

Newcastle supporters responded by chanting “Athletic! Athletic! Athletic!” – but that was not the end of the matter.

“The police held us back for a short while and took us down a long concrete staircase into the main road,” Pedley said. “All we could see at the bottom was this mass of red and white.

“They brought us down in single file and let us go. We thought ‘oh, here we go.’ But all the Athletic fans wanted to do was shake your hand, pat you on the back and take you to a bar. It was as if they were like ‘adopt a Geordie’.

“I don’t think there was anyone in a Newcastle United shirt who didn’t get fed and watered that night. They were just really appreciative that we were enjoying their city.”

Chants were exchanged as Newcastle fans taught Athletic supporters – among others – “walking in a Keegan wonderland” and “he gets the ball and scores a goal, Andy, Andy Cole”.

Shirts and scarves were even swapped and this remains, possibly, the only occasion where a number of Newcastle supporters wore red and white, which are also the colours of bitter rivals Sunderland.

One such Athletic shirt remains a cherished memento from an away day that Newcastle fan Philip Long will never forget.

“It’s still in the wardrobe with a couple hundred of my Newcastle tops,” he said. “I’ll never let go of it.”