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Barca finances hit home on the pitch

Barcelona's head coach Xavi was shell shocked by the 2-3 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt to lose out on a place in a European semi-final.  He was still waiting for an explanation three days after the defeat of how 35,000 Eintracht fans, nearly half the crowd, got into the Nou Camp and proceeded to make more noise than the home support.

The answer seems to rest with attempts to deal with the club's €1 billion plus debt by bringing in fresh revenues.   The club lost out when Covid-19 kept the 98,000-seater stadium empty.   Covid also hit revenues from the club museum which is normally popular with international tourists.

No show season ticket holders were encouraged to make their seats available.   Recent adjustments to Barcelona membership, giving preferential access to tickets, seems to have been exploited by visiting German fans.

As a consequence the Barcelona bus couldn't get into the stadium at the first attempt.  Off the pitch fund raising seems to have on the pitch performance.

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