It’s been a very long time coming – 27 months in fact – but getting the go-ahead to return to Camp Nou will have come as a huge relief to everyone connected with the club.
The financial aspect of moving back home from the Estadio Lluis Companys can’t be understated, but that is really a secondary issue to what is going to be a monumental homecoming.
It was obvious from the open training session just how special it was for players and supporters to be back at the famous old ground, and once completed
with all mod cons, it will be a stadium to rival the best in the world.
Arguably, it will be the best stadium in the world, and certainly the largest in Europe, with 105,000 supporters.
A fresh start and new beginnings will allow everyone to dream again, and if the players can make the ground a fortress again, so much the better.
The new memories that will be made there will last for generations, and perhaps the biggest plus point from the recent training session was the number of supporters who espoused that the ‘new’ Camp Nou still maintained the feelings of the old stadium.
Those who have been tasked with building a stadium of the future therefore deserve great credit in being able to evoke the feelings of the past.
How often have we seen new stadiums built for clubs or their current stadia upgraded, only for those evocative feelings to be completely lost thanks to the transition from old to new.
It may take some time to get used to the new Camp Nou of course, though the one area that could be of benefit will be the atmosphere generated.
Culers have often been at pains to point out that the lack of atmosphere at the Estadio Lluis Companys could well have contributed to a few unwanted losses or other games where points have been dropped.
After the dark days of 2020, this really is a fresh start for the club and hopefully it will be a major turning point for Barca both on and off the pitch.
Athletic Club and Ernesto Valverde will come to spoil the party of course, however, the tidal wave of emotion that they’ll be up against will be like nothing they’ve experienced before.
As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz… “there’s no place like home.”
