{"id":22210,"date":"2024-01-27T19:01:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T16:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/22210\/barcas-midnight-kickoff-ronaldinho-gazpacho\/"},"modified":"2024-01-27T19:01:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T16:01:33","slug":"barcas-midnight-kickoff-ronaldinho-gazpacho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=22210","title":{"rendered":"Barca&#8217;s midnight kickoff: Ronaldinho, gazpacho and a party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barca&#8217;s midnight kickoff: Ronaldinho, gazpacho and a party\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent<span class=\"timestamp \">January 27, 2024, 11:22 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data- media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data- media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Ronaldinho fights for the ball with a Sevilla defender in 2003. <cite>Manuel Blondeau\/Photo &#038; Co.\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>West Bromwich Albion&#39;s derby match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup this weekend (<strong>stream all matches live on ESPN+<\/strong>) will begin Sunday at an unusually early hour, at 11:45 a.m. \u201cEarly?\u201d  Barcelona could answer that.  \u201cHold my gazpacho.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That&#39;s because it&#39;s the earliest possible kickoff to a professional <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/football\/\"   title=\"football\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">football<\/a> game \u2014 or should it be the last?  &#8212; was at the Camp Nou in September 2003 when Barca faced Sevilla in La Liga on a Wednesday at 12:05 a.m.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#39;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A festive atmosphere was created.  Three headliners performed before the match, KitKats and cups of gazpacho (a cold soup made from mixed vegetables) were offered to the 80,237 fans in attendance and Ronaldinho scored his first ever goal for Bar\u00e7a.  The Brazilian, making his home debut after signing from Paris Saint-Germain, collected the ball from his own half and sent it under the bar to make it 1-1 at around 1:30 a.m. local.<\/p>\n<p>But why on earth did all this happen early in the morning, when most people had to wake up for work or school a few hours later?<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, the Spanish league had planned for the second round of the season to be played midweek before the September international break, which led to most teams playing from Saturday to Tuesday before their players returned to their countries respective.<\/p>\n<p>However, Barca and Sevilla failed to agree on a slot for their match.  Sevilla were unable to move their weekend match, saying tickets had already been printed and shipped for Sunday, and also ruled out playing Monday or Tuesday as it would fall within 48 hours of their previous match.<\/p>\n<p>Sensing the opportunity to face a weakened Barca without their internationals, they also refused to rearrange the match for later in the campaign.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data- media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data- media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">The Camp Nou is preparing for the midnight match, which ended in a 1-1 draw. <cite>Manuel Blondeau\/Photo &#038; Co.\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cLa Liga had organized the match on a Wednesday, but that meant Ronaldinho would have left to join Brazil,\u201d Sandro Rosell, then Barca vice-president, said in the documentary \u201cThe Happiest <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/man\/\"   title=\"Man\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">Man<\/a> in the World\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We thought: &#39;Ufff, we&#39;re going to lose without him,&#39; so we insisted on Tuesday with La Liga. They said no. And then the idea came to us to play on Wednesday five minutes after midnight. It was crazy, but we We think we have to do it because we need Ronaldinho.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline float-r inline-track\">\n<h2 class=\"img-title\">Stream ESPN FC daily on ESPN+<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-lazyload=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Superagent-Pimenta-talks-discrimination-transfers-Haaland.jpg\" class=\"round lazyload\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and discuss the biggest storylines.  Stream on ESPN+ (US only).<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The club checked the sporting statutes and legislation to see if it was possible and, once given the green light, \u201cLa Nuit du Gazpacho\u201d, as it is known locally, was born.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember we had a very long nap before because the match started very late,\u201d former Bar\u00e7a player Sergio Santamar\u00eda told ESPN.  &#8220;And also the excitement of doing something at that moment. It was the same as when you were little and you didn&#39;t have school because you wore something special.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a bit like that, unusual, that&#39;s what it felt like because we were playing after midnight. It was different because it wasn&#39;t a normal kick-off time. It was It\u2019s hard to sleep afterwards!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone agreed.  &#8220;I still think it doesn&#39;t make any sense,&#8221; Joaqu\u00edn Caparr\u00f3s, Sevilla&#39;s coach from 2000 to 2005, told reporters before the match.  \u201cIt\u2019s bad for football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fearing that fans would not show up, Barca found different ways to persuade them to come to the match.  They kept the club&#39;s museum open until midnight, played music from three tenors and handed out 100,000 KitKats, 40,000 cups of gazpacho, 30,000 Actimel yogurts, 25,000 bags of Doritos, bread and jam\u00f3n ( Ham).  The response was a crowd of more than 80,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>But things didn&#39;t <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/start\/\"   title=\"start\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">start<\/a> well.  Ronaldinho was available, but Barca were without their Dutch internationals &#8211; Phillip Cocu, Patrick Kluivert, Michael Reiziger, Marc Overmars, Giovanni van Bronckhorst &#8211; and quickly fell behind when Jos\u00e9 Antonio Reyes gave Sevilla the lead at the 10th minute penalty.  .<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data- media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data- media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Ronaldinho celebrates his goal for Barcelona to seal the draw. <cite>Manuel Blondeau\/Photo &#038; Co.\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;&#39;<em>mother mom<\/em> [my mother]\u201cI think so,\u201d Rosell added.  &#8220;After everything we&#39;ve done and now we&#39;re going to lose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But as Ronaldinho joked in the documentary: &#8220;Things couldn&#39;t go wrong. It&#39;s midnight that I take my rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The retired star, now 43, was referring to the headlines he made during his time at Barca for his love of the city&#39;s nightlife, but it was a whole other bar than he attended early in the morning on this occasion.  Collecting the ball just inside his own half, he raced past defenders Jos\u00e9 Luis Mart\u00ed and Francisco Casquero before launching an unstoppable effort that bounced off the bar and over the line well after midnight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe dribbled, dribbled, dribbled and then boom,\u201d remembers Toni Juanmart\u00ed, a journalist from Diario Sport who was present at the match.  &#8220;It was an incredible night and moment. I still vividly remember the explosion after the goal. When he shot, it was one of those where you ask yourself: &#39;What the hell? what you&#39;re doing&#8230;&#39; And then it&#39;s chaos.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There will be no free pies or chocolate at The Hawthorns on Sunday morning.  However, there is a chance for someone to write their name in the Black Country derby history books as the two old rivals meet for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barca&#8217;s midnight kickoff: Ronaldinho, gazpacho and a party\u060c Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondentJanuary 27, 2024, 11:22 a.m. Ronaldinho fights for the ball with a Sevilla defender in 2003. Manuel Blondeau\/Photo &#038; Co.\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images West Bromwich Albion&#39;s derby match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup this weekend (stream all matches live on ESPN+) will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3737,9812,1165,9810,2267,9811],"class_list":["post-22210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-barcas","tag-gazpacho","tag-kickoff","tag-midnight","tag-party","tag-ronaldinho"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22212,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210\/revisions\/22212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}