FC Barcelona in Scotland

It’s not often the spotlight in Scottish football falls far from the two Glasgow behemoths, but the undoubted excitement this week is in the East of the nation – as Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona stars arrived in St. Andrews for a training camp that will also see them play in Dundee and Edinburgh over the next seven days.

The sports conference business Platinum One has in place a contract with FC Barcelona, guaranteeing the appearance of a healthy first team squad, and local fans can expect to see a fair smattering of stars. Eidur Gudjohnsen will miss out due to injury, and star signing Thierry Henry is likely to feature only from the bench. Reports in today’s Scottish newspapers suggest that a return visit to these shores may be likely for 2008, with Rangers FC and another Spanish side being lined up for a tournament.

But, in the meantime, interest in both games is very high, with Dundee United’s Tannadice ground sold out, and the match against Hearts on Saturday so far attracting over 45,000 ticket buyers. It will be the first ever game between Hearts and Barcelona, but the Dundonian club has a very special history with their Spanish counterparts.

United Chairman, Eddie Thompson, fondly remembers paying just 50 pence to see the Spanish representatives in season 1966/67’s Fairs Cup, and the clubs would meet again twenty years later, in the UEFA Cup. In what may well rank as a unique record, Dundee United has beaten FC Barcelona, home and away, on every occasion when the clubs have met. The second round tie in 1966 resulted in 2-1 and 2-0 wins for the Scottish club against the holders, but it is the 1987 UEFA games that hold a special place in the memory for fans of the Tannadice side. A club record attendance of 28,000 filled the stadium for the home leg quarter final, and were rewarded with a 1-0 score to take to Spain, where two late goals secured qualification and a win. United lost in the final to IFK Gothenburg, but that mid 1980s period, with their only Scottish top league triumph and a European Cup Semi Final, remains the clear peak in the history of the club.

It would seem unlikely that Heart of Midlothian, or especially Dundee United, will find themselves drawn against FC Barcelona in a competitive European fixture in the near future, so these games provide a lovely opportunity for supporters of the clubs and interested neutrals. Young fans, who may have only ever seen talents such as Ronaldinho on television, will thrill at a one in a lifetime experience to marvel at their heroes in the flesh: in an era where TV money and the wishes of the big clubs seem to be of paramount importance this visit of the Catalan giants will work as effective PR and provide for big box office receipts and high levels of enjoyment for fans whose enthusiasm has been noted by officials of the visitors.

Txiki Begiristain, Director of Football at FC Barcelona, offered the following comments: “At St. Andrews we have found the ideal training environment. The North of Europe is ideal for pre-season training because the temperature is not so high there. Furthermore Scotland has always had a passion for football. These two factors coupled with the facilities at St. Andrews means that we have found the ideal environment for our pre-season training camp which is one of the most important events of the year for our team."

Football lovers throughout Scotland are surely in for a treat.