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Barcelona face a fan boycott for Monday’s LaLiga game against Cadiz after a group of supporters announced they would stay away in a protest over what they called “the greatest infamy at our home”.
The massed ranks of Eintracht Frankfurt fans at Camp Nou on Thursday for the Europa League quarter-final second leg has incensed many at Barca.
Club president Joan Laporta has said he was “ashamed” with the ticketing situation against the Bundesliga side that allowed tens of thousands of away supporters into the stadium.
Head coach Xavi has said the matter is being investigated internally, with Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat and exit from the competition having compounded the misery
The Grada d’Animacio (Animation Stand) group, which provides considerable colour and noise at home games, announced its boycott on Sunday, issuing a statement on Twitter.
“Last Thursday we experienced a day that will be marked forever as the greatest infamy at our home,” the group’s statement said.
It added: “As fans and members of FC Barcelona we have experienced many victories and many defeats on the field of play, but as a fan group, we have experienced a social humiliation that we will never forget.”
The group said the system that allowed Frankfurt visitors to acquire tickets for the game had failed Barca fans, adding that the mass buy-up should have been detected and prevented.
The fan body also questioned whether it had come as a surprise to Barcelona that so many German fans had attended, or whether it had been allowed to bring in money at the box office.
According to the Grada d’Animacio, there were more than 30,000 Frankfurt fans at the game.
The fan group also questioned what might have happened if the visiting supporters were spoiling for a fight.
“Who knows where we would be right now with another group of fans,” the group’s statement added.
“Our task is simple but very complicated, to set the mood and help cheer up the rest of the stadium to get victories, because we are very clear that as fans we are the 12th team player.
“However, the events that took place on Thursday meant that we were forced to take action, as we did during the match and on other occasions, and that is precisely why we will attend the next match between FC Barcelona and Cadiz.
“We are convinced that, as members and fans of FC Barcelona, we cannot ever allow again a remotely similar situation, and we ask the parties involved to remember that not everything in life is a few million, especially if we talk about a club that has as a motto ‘more than a club’.”
