Barcelona in Beijing

A group of us went to a friendly soccer match between FC Barcelona and Beijing Guo’an. There were about 30,000+ people at the smallish Fengtai Stadium. It took some time to get there as there are no good roads that connect the ring roads. So unfortunately we did not have as much time to tail gate with buckets of KFC chicken and Heineken as we would have liked.
Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o started for Barcelona and then Ronaldinho replaced Henry in the second half. Lionel Messi did not play as he was still recovering from the Boca Cup. FC won 3-0.






The crowd was very energetic. It was amazing how many Barca supporters there were from Beijing. Some of the local fans were not happy and occasionally booed.


The air was very thick with pollution, not sure what the Barcelona players thought of that. The game was somewhat of a dry run for next year's Beijing Olympics, with the countdown at one year on Wednesday. The security was in high force.
Beijing Olympics officials are very concerned about the image the city projects next year and have been campaigning to get people to curtail bad habits like spitting, jumping ahead in line and reckless driving. The only reckless thing I saw was the launching of plastic square shaped fans that made great Frisbees after each goal scored by Barcelona.

Funny article from China Daily:

Beijing police out in force to limit Barcelona abuse(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-08-04 11:35
In their latest effort to tackle crude behavior ahead of the Olympics, Beijing police say they will punish or even detain football fans who yell out the "F-Word" (the Chinese equivalent) at Sunday's friendly between Beijing Guo'an FC and Barcelona.
"Those who initiate swearing or goad the crowd into mass cursing at the game will be ejected from the stadium or even face detention and a 12-month ban from attending football matches," Liu Chunjiang, a spokesman with Beijing police's Fengtai District Branch told Xinhua on Friday.
Fengtai police, responsible for security at Sunday's game between Beijing Guo'an FC and Barcelona, will treat the international friendly expected to attract more than 30,000 fans as a "drill for next year's Olympics", Liu said.
"It is just way out of line to have 30,000 people shouting and swearing en masse," Liu said.
"There will be a police officer in each stand videoing the crowd during the match in order to collect evidence of fans' bad behavior, from cursing and fighting to throwing litter or running onto the field. We will keep records of all violations," he said.
"What we are trying to do is to give the right guidance in how to view a football match, not to impose anything on the spectator, " Liu said.
Beijing Fengtai Stadium, where the game will be held, is the home stadium of Guo'an FC and a notorious cussing venue for Beijingers who enjoy letting fly with tirades of abuse.
A seasoned curser surnamed Hao was detained for seven days in July for "violating the order of a public event". The man set up a website in March called "Beijing Curse Union", aimed at promoting a "curse culture" and goading Beijing football fans before each match to swear at the visiting team. He was banned from the stadium for 12 months.
Another five members of the "Union" were fined or given warnings. Sunday's game will be the first match after the banning of the "Union", said Liu, who refused to say how many police officers will be present.