Fiesta is what Barcelona is all about. You don’t have to ask anyone twice – Catalans love to go out and party until the early morning hours. They also have many reasons to celebrate, whether it be the weekend, a national holiday, a regional (Catalan) holiday, a church holiday or the lively fiestas del barrio when the whole neighborhood gets together to party. Naturally, there’s also a very special event to commemorate which is Barça winning an important trophy.
Since I moved to Barcelona in 2015 we have won La Liga 3 times out of 4 possible and I was very lucky to have the opportunity to witness it live, to go to the matches and to celebrate the cups.
2016: Doblete by Luis Enrique
There was an open bus celebration from Port Vell to MNAC at Montjuic hill and then it continued in the evening at the Camp Nou with fireworks, a light show and players speeches. Unfortunately a few days before the events I broke my ankle badly and was told to stay at home by all means.
2018: Doblete by Ernesto Valverde
The first, and as it turned out, the best season by Txingurri ended up with another open bus tour and this time I had the opportunity to be there so here’s a few of the pictures I’ve taken:
This time however there was no evening show at Camp Nou which I have to say was quite disappointing and still don’t know why the Club chose not to do it. It may have been because of the horrible defeat vs Roma in Champions League (4-1 at home and 0-3 away) but still, how many times does your club score a doblete? In case of Barça that has happened 8 times in history, so on average once every 15 years or so. Strange decision, but not the last one by Bartomeu.
Other notable moment, triplete 2009:
This one was probably the most memorable one as it was the first time we won more than one cup in the 21st century and really marked the beginning of the greatest team ever assembled in football, Pep Guardiola’s El Barça del Sextete. I will remember it also as that one time we saw Messi drunk in public. Or maybe he was just super happy and excited? You be the judge:
Canaletes
Ok, but where do ordinary Barça fans celebrate? The answer can be only one: Canaletes the fountain located at the famous La Rambla.
The story of how this tradition began is longer than you might think and dates back to the 1930s when a sports magazine was founded by Josep Sunyol i Garriga, the then President of FC Barcelona. He named the newspaper simply La Rambla as it was located at this very street.
Of course, back then there was no internet, no TV, nor even radio. So what happened when Barça played an away match and you wanted to know the score as soon as possible? You would go to the Canaletes in front of La Rambla. They had a telegraph in the office so once the game was over they wrote the result on a piece of chalkboard and showed it to culés below in the street.
Since then the fountain has been a gathering place for all Barça fans. The biggest celebrations in history were, among others, La Manita (5-0) vs Real Madrid in 1974, Cup Winners Cup fiesta in 1979, first European Cup in 1992, Guardiola’s trophies and many more… It’s reserved however for the most important matches and trophies, so if you go there after Barça trounces Levante you’ll be disappointed!
