Where were the Barça players for the last game at Spotify Camp Nou?
Come Saturday, the day of the long awaited return home, it will be 909 days since Barça last played a game at Spotify Camp Nou. On 28 May, 2023 Barça beat Mallorca 3-0 at the stadium on the penultimate weekend of a league season which would see the blaugranes crowned champions. So, why don't we have a look at just where each member of the current Barça squad was on that day.
12 in the squad
We begin with the most obvious: those players who were at Barça at the time. 12 members of the current squad were at the club at the time of the game against Mallorca, and seven of them started the match: Ter Stegen, Balde, Christensen, Kounde, Gavi, De Jong and Lewandowski. Eric Garcia, Ferran and Raphinha were on the substitutes bench and Pedri and Araujo were missing due to injury.
Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal, in Budapest
The rest of the squad were either yet to make it to the first team, or were at another club. Four players who were still making their way through the youth teams at this time were Pau Cubarsí, Lamine Yamal, Marc Bernal and Marc Casadó.
The day before Barça v Mallorca, Cubarsí and Lamine were in Budapest for the quarter-finals of the U17 European Championships with the Spanish national side. The two players were in the starting XI for the 3-0 win over the Republic of Ireland with Lamine scoring the third.
Casadó and Bernal, in action with Barça
Marc Casadó, for his part, was involved in Barça Atlètic's game against UD Logroñes at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on 27 May. The blaugranes took a 1-0 win on the final day of the Primera Federación season to seal their place in the promotion play offs. Marc Bernal meanwhile was a part of the U16A team that lost to Girona penalties on 28 May in the quarter-finals of the Copa Catalunya.
A loan and six at other teams
As for the seven players remaining, one was on loan at the time, Fermín López. The Barça midfielder was playing for Linares in the Primera Federación and on 27 May he was in the side that faced San Fernando on the final weekend of the league season, providing an assist.
The rest of the squad were yet to arrive at FC Barcelona. Gerard Martín was playing for Cornellà in their game against Numancia in Soria on 27 May. Joan Garcia was on the bench for Espanyol on 28 May in their game against Valencia which saw the Barcelona club relegated to the Segunda División. Szczęsny was in the starting XI for a Juventus side who went down to defeat against AC Milan.
Dani Olmo was still at RB Leipzig, providing an assist in their game against Schalke 04 on 27 May. Manchester United's win over Fulham on 28 May saw Marcus Rashford in the starting line up as was Roony Bardghji for FC Copenhagen in their game against Viborg.