FC Barcelona v León FC: Party atmosphere for Camp Nou debut

Barcelona (FCB).- It’s a big day for the Barça fans at the Camp Nou today, with the Festa Gamper occupying the club installations during the day and the first team presentation and home debut against Mexican side Club León in the evening (20.30 CET).

The Festa started this morning with fun and games for kids in the Auditori 1899 space and football based activities on the Esplanade in front of the main stand. The stadium itself opened its doors at half past six ahead of the team presentation and the Trophy.

New faces

The squad will be presented to the fans at about half past seven, with new boss Luis Enrique just one more new face for the fans to greet, along with summer signings. Bravo, Masip, Ter Stegen, Mathieu, Vermaelen, Rafinha, Rakitic and  Luis Suárez, who will be making his first appearance in a Barça shirt after re-joining the squad for training last Friday.

Five of those new players -Bravo, Masip, Mathieu, Rakitic and Luis Suárez-, could make their Camp Nou debuts as Barça players against Leon, whilst the injured Ter Stegen and Vermaelen will have to wait. Rafinha played for the first team at the stadium when he was still a Barça B player.

Special farewell

There’s a buzz of excitement around the new faces at the Catalan club who will be on show tonight and to add to that the crowd will welcome back one of its old favourites, Rafa Márquez, who moved from Leon to the Italian side Verona a few weeks ago, but has been given permission by his new club to turn out tonight for a final farewell at the ground where he played for seven seasons and achieved so much success.