Day 1- Arrival and Barcelona v.s. Santos Game!

We all arrived at Barcelona's airport late yesterday morning, and luckily all of our luggage arrived as well...

The Team Upon Arrival in Barcelona's Airport

Our guide for the week, Enrigue, was at the exit gate to meet us, and we all hopped on the bus for the 45-minute drive to Santa Susanna, a coastal area 30 miles north of Barcelona where our hotel is located.
Once we were checked-in some of the team used the downtime before the Barcelona game to hit the hotel pool, or to take a nap a quick nap on the beach. Others just went to their rooms and passed-out for a few hours...

Around 6:30p.m. we got back on the bus to depart for Barcelona Football Club's legendary soccer stadium, the "Camp Nou" to watch a high-profile preseason match-up between Barcelona, who was featuring the current "FIFA World Player of the Year", Lionel Messi, and new signing, Neymar, an up-and-coming superstar who was recently acquired from Barcelona's opponent for the evening, Santos FC. Santos is a top team in the Brazilian league, and there were nearly 90'000 fans on hand to see the match.
Seeing the mob of so many passionate soccer fans on our arrival at the stadium for a preseason game really put into perspective that soccer is not just a game, but a way of life for the people of Barcelona.

Outside the Camp Nou

 Barcelona won the match handily 8-0 in as perfectly executed a game of soccer as you could ever dream of seeing. The quality of Barcelona's play against a strong, but completely out-matched Santos team was absolutely unbelievable to watch. Individually each Barcelona player's skill and composure on the ball was immaculate, but even more impressive was the way in which each of these world-class superstars followed the team-wide tactical plan with seemingly ZERO mistakes.

Inside the Camp Nou for the Pregame

After the game we followed the river of fans out of the stadium to find our bus, and after a long wait to make it through the busy parking lot we drove back to Santa Susanna, arriving back at the hotel around 1 a.m. The team was all completely exhausted, but we tried our best to rest-up as best we could before our morning breakfast and our first morning practice...