Barcelona fear upcoming UCL clash vs Porto could turn into Eintracht Frankfurt 2.0 – report

At FC Barcelona, there is a growing sense of belief that their upcoming UEFA Champions League home game against FC Porto will be a repeat of what happened in their match against Eintracht Frankfurt last year when fans in large numbers marauded the Spotify Camp Nou, reports Carrusel Deportivo.

Barcelona’s 0-1 defeat at the hands of Shakhtar has made things complicated for the Blaugrana as although they continue to occupy the top spot, they lead Porto only on goal difference and Shakhtar are only three points away.

This means the magnitude of the game against Porto will be much bigger than anticipated.

What’s the picture?

FC Porto put the tickets for the upcoming Champions League match on sale this Monday and within a few hours, those were sold out. 

For what it is worth, Barcelona have allotted 2,700 seats for the travelling fans, with each ticket priced at €55 each. Furthermore, it is to be noted that these tickets were exclusively accessible to the season ticket holders of Estadio do Dragao.

However, it is largely anticipated that more fans will travel from Portugal, seeking to witness the match live by securing their tickets through alternative channels instead of the official Porto website.

This is where the fear begins as Barcelona have witnessed this scenario before when Frankfurt paid them a visit in April last year in the UEFA Europa League, a match that Barcelona lost 2-3.

What happened in 2022?

Barcelona welcomed Frankfurt after drawing the first leg 1-1 in the round of 16 of the competition. Back then, news emerged that the online ticket sales system was incapable of processing ticket purchases from Germany.

Reports eventually emerged that the travelling fans got the tickets via tour operators while obtaining their tour packages.

Despite Barcelona’s initial allocation of 5000 tickets for the travelling fans, the number of fans exceeded this limit.

Consequently, Barça found themselves playing as the away team in their own stadium during one of the season’s most crucial matches.

And there is now a sense of fear that the situation at Montjuic could turn into a similar one next week.