Although every football club in Europe had to get used to playing in front of empty stadiums for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed to be a situation that no one really enjoyed even if it was a necessity.
Barcelona may have to endure something similar in due course if they want to move forward and out of their current financial predicament.
That’s because in order to upgrade the Camp Nou, it appears that the club are going to need to play elsewhere for a year whilst works to install an extra 11,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 110,000, are done.
MORE: Coutinho tipped for Tottenham
According to an interview that president, Joan Laporta, gave to RAC1, cited by the Daily Star, the club are giving serious consideration to using the Johan Cruyff Stadium, which is where the Barcelona Women’s team and the youth teams play, and which has a capacity of 6,000.
There are other venues being considered too, though the Johan Cruyff Stadium appears to be favourite at present.
More short-term pain – lost match day revenue being one issue – will hopefully mean long-term gain, with the Catalans ending up with a stadium that will be the envy of football clubs everywhere.
That’s if the project does actually get off of the ground.
It was originally supposed to start back in 2007 when Sir Norman Foster was selected as architect, but nothing ever happened.
Other false starts have meant that Real Madrid have surged ahead with their renewal of the Santiago Bernabeu, which should be up and running fully in the not too distant future.