Barcelona supporters ‘boycott’ Europa League tie for 10 minutes

Thousands of Eintracht Frankfurt fans packed the Nou Camp’s home sections to watch their team beat Barcelona 3-2 in the Europa League quarter-finals.

According to reports, 30,000 Frankfurt fans travelled to Spain for the return leg, which was tense after a 1-1 tie in Germany last week.

Frankfurt had sold out its 5,000 away-seat allocation, while Sport in Spain stated that Barcelona had stopped selling tickets to their own fans on Wednesday in order to prevent opposition fans from buying more in the home stands.

During the match, groups of Frankfurt fans could be seen in every area of the nearly 100,000-seat stadium, many of them were wearing replica shirts and standing close to Barcelona fans.

“Home end already swimming with Frankfurt fans at Camp Nou, nothing discrete about it either. Don’t remember anything similar here,” said ESPN journalist Samuel Marsden.

In the first half, Frankfurt fans had enough to cheer about after their team took a 2-0 lead over the Europa League favourites.

Barça say attendance at Camp Nou is 79,468, with various estimates claiming between 20,000 and 30,000 Frankfurt fans inside the stadium + more outside without tickets

— Siempre Positivo (@SiemprePod) April 14, 2022

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Home end already swimming with Frankfurt fans at Camp Nou, nothing discrete about it either. Don’t remember anything similar here pic.twitter.com/SlBOQAojMQ

— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) April 14, 2022

After four minutes, Filip Kostic scored from the penalty spot, and Rafael Borré followed with a magnificent strike from 25 yards out.

Then it was claimed that Barcelona’s most vocal followers, who sit in the lower section behind one of the goals, decided not to show up for the start of the second half in protest of a large number of Frankfurt fans present.

It was only a 10-minute strike, but when they returned and the second half began, there were loud whistles when Frankfurt was in possession, indicating how many Frankfurt fans had gone to see their team in action.

Frankfurt’s fortunes improved as well, with Kostic scoring his second goal to put the Bundesliga club in the last four.

Barcelona attempted a late comeback, but Sergio Busquets’ goal and a penalty by Memphis Depay, both in injury time, were too little, too late, and Frankfurt secured a memorable victory.