Watching the Carling Cup Final in Barcelona

[Quandram]

I hadn't realised the clash till this morning but myself and some of my more dubious cohorts are off to Barcelona the weekend of the Carling Cup final for my stag do and we have some avid Spurs fans among our party who wish to be depressed.

I've not been out there before so can anyone here recommend a bar that's likely to be showing the game? We're based not far from Plaza Catalunya if that means anything to anyone?

Cheers folks

[Winrew]

Full Spanish fixture list fo the sunday...
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Athletic Bilbao v Villarreal,
Barcelona v Levante,
Deportivo La Coruna v Espanyol,
Mallorca v Real Betis,
Murcia v Valladolid,
Osasuna v Atletico Madrid,
Racing Santander v Almeria,
Real Madrid v Getafe,
Sevilla v Real Zaragoza,
Valencia v Recreativo Huelva

Any chance of you all getting tickets for the Barcleona match ? Bound to better than the Carling Cup..

RC Gills is our Spanish representative , he might know of a english bar or two..

[Quandram]

We had been looking at the Barcelona game with a view to go see it. I think it's the evening kick off? Levante are dreadful by my understanding so there might be some spare seats hopefully. See how things work out.

I don't doubt it will be better than the carling cup, i'm not overly fussed about the game myself as my team (i'm a pretty half hearted tractor boy) are suprisingly not involved but if we can find it then it should progress the drinking nicely (not that i imagine we'll need encouragement!)

[trickrick]

I went there on a Stag Do a few years back. Excellent place..Stick to the Rambles and the harbour area and you'll be fine...Just need to watch out for the pickpockets preying on the semi-conscious..

[rcgills]

I've only been to Barcelona once, so can't really tell you much about where to watch the game, but if it's anything like Madrid, you'll have a fair few "Irish" pubs showing it. From what I can remember, I think the League Cup final may be shown on Spanish terrestrial TV too, in which case even if you can't find an Irish bar and can't find a Spanish bar prepared to stick it on for you, in the worst case scenario you'd be able to watch it in the hotel room. Don't quote me on that though, not 100% sure.

[Quandram]

Cheers folks, sure we shouldn't have a problem and if we are forced to go from bar to bar beforehand for "research" then them's the breaks.

[Beanie]

You'll have no trouble Quandram - there's plenty Irish pubs just off the Ramblas which would be the best in terms of atmosphere, you'll find them no problem, as well as a dedicated sports bar about half way down the Ramblas on the right(it's orange on the outside and says Sports Bar, beside a subway. It has loads of screens showing about 10 different sports channels at once - altho most of the area is taken up by tables so its not so much of a standing bar.

There will always be spare seats for the Barcelona games - when I was there in September we trotted up on the night and got some tickets for the Lyon Champs League game for £30.

If you are planning on going, I'd suggest 2 things. a) watch out for touts outside the ground who pick out tourists that are only there for one game - they'll tell you a load of bollocks about how the tickets are sold out but how they can sell you some. They hover right beside the bit where you actually buy tickets (a kind of beige/grey cabin with lots of little windows that ticket people are behind) so just march past them and go straight to the holes in the wall.

b) Pay a bit more for a slightly higher category of seat(altho this really depends whether you want to be up with the gods, as it is an amazing sight. That aside, its full of tourists there for one game, certainly not a football crowd and virtually no natives there, just a bunch of twats with their ronaldinho replicas on clicking away on their cameras every two seconds who will annoy you.

We were up there for the Lyon game but had pre-purchased some tickets for the 50th anniversary sevilla game - atmosphere was soo much better as we were in with the locals and not far from the nutters behind the goal.

So depends whether you want atmosphere or great views!

Pricier seats:

Cheap seats:

[Winrew]

Half way down the Ramblas on the left of you , you will find a tunnel of sorts leading into a big square , its got loads of small bars and cafes and its cheaper than the main street ones.
Use the tube to get around , cheap and realible and safe , and pay a visit to the familia sagrada , thats that unfinished cathedral , really impressive , and a few bars in the vicinity..

[trickrick]

Oh and it would be rude not to visit the seedy peepshow on a stag do that was located at the Ramblas.. It was quite funny watchng people bored shitless going through the motions having sex.. The one horrible thing that sticks in my mind as I walked to the exit though was the cleaner sweeping up a huge mountain of discarded tissues..

[Quandram]

Cheers for the info folks. I step off in to the abyss in about 10 mins.

It's going to be a rough ride, particularly when you consider that one of the most sensible folk i'm going with is known to you as "Frodo"



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