Some of the most notable personalities in the history of FC Barcelona dressed up this Friday to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Barcelona entity at the Gran Teatro del Liceoin an evening in which the essence of the club was vindicated and the anthem and mascot of said celebration were announced.
With the current president, Joan Laporta, as host of the party, the club remembered some of its figures. From its founder, Hans Gamper, to legends such as Ladislao Kubala, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, who did not attend the event.
125 years have already passed since November 29, 1899, when the Swiss Hans Gamper and eleven other men met at the Solé Gymnasium to found a sports association that would bear the name and coat of arms of the city of Barcelona.
An anniversary that has brought together about 2,000 people, including all the athletes on the club’s current squads, managersas well as characters who at some point have been part of Barça’s history, whether on the playing fields or in the offices.
Koeman and Xavi, present
Club legends such as Ronald Koeman, Xavi Hernández, Guillermo Amor, Jose Mari BakeroAitor ‘Txiki’ Begiristain, Anderson Luis de Souza ‘Deco’, Rafa Márquez and Gerard Piqué, among many others. Former coaches Frank Rijkaard, Carles Rexach and Jordi Roura were also seen among the attendees.
The ceremony also meant the first public appearance at an event organized by Josep Maria Bartomeu’s entity since he left the presidency in autumn 2020, he ranked close to his predecessors, Sandro Rosell, Joan Gaspart and Enric Reyna.
Personalities from the political sphere such as the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collbonias well as the former presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia Jordi Pujol, Artur Mas, Joaquim Torra and Pere Aragonès were among the guests.
Messi and Guardiola, the great absences
However, there were notable absences like those of the Argentine Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol or Pep Guardiolawho due to scheduling reasons could not travel to Barcelona, although they recorded videos to congratulate the club on such a special date.
“I’m proud to be part of the club”expressed the Rosario in a video in which other players absent from the gala appeared such as Andrés Iniesta, Romario, Sergio Busquets, Evaristo de Macedo, Luis Enrique Martínez, David Villa, Luis Suárez, Rivaldo, Jordi Alba, Carles Puyol, Neymar, Hugo Sotil, Andoni Zubizarreta and Ronaldinho.
For his part, Pep Guardiola, former Barça coach and current Manchester City coach, He used the song ‘Aniversari’ by the Catalan group Manel to congratulate the club’s 125 years. The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, also appeared on the stage screen to congratulate the entity.
Applause from Laporta for Xavi and Koeman
The ceremony, presented by Sandra Sabatés and Llorenç Tarrés, began with the appearance of actor Pep Anton Muñoz playing the role of Gamperwhich recalled some of the episodes from the club’s first years, such as the founding and construction of the Les Corts stadium.
The actor introduced the current president, Joan Laporta, who in his speech He remembered the figure of the founder and reviewed names and stages of the 125 years of history of the clubfrom the 20s of the last century to the present.
The leader applauded Cruyff, Stoichkov, Rijkaard, Deco, Belletti, the club’s current squad, the sections and the “best women’s football team in the world.” Laporta also led ovations for one of the absentees, Leo Messi, “the best player in the history of football and the most decisive”he stressed, and for Koeman and Xavi, present in the auditorium, whom he himself dismissed as coaches of the first football team.
The top leader of Barça, who in many moments of his speech lasting about 25 minutes was visibly moved, He urged all Barcelona fans to be uniteddespite the differences.
A section of the event was dedicated to the women’s soccer team. Alexia Putellas took the stage, highlighting the dominance of her squad over the last five years. “Everything we are generating is something that has not been done before”said.
Four legends of the sections also passed the stage: Juan Carlos Navarro (basketball), Enric Masip (handball)Gaby Cairo (futsal) and Jordi Torras (futsal).
Choice of 125th anniversary anthem
One of the most anticipated moments of the gala was the election of ‘L’escut al pit’ (‘The shield on the chest’) as ‘Cant’ (hymn) for the 125th anniversary. The song, written by Xavier González-Costa, with music by Carles Cases and the voices of the Orfeón Catalán and the Palau Blaugrana Dracs 1991 entertainment group, has been the most voted for by members. The song competed with two other songs: ‘Del Bressol a l’infinit’ and ‘Un sentiment’.
In parallel, ‘Cat’, the 125th anniversary mascot, was also presented to societya cat with the face of the Barça shield created by the brothers Jordi and Carlos Grangel.
Humor was also the protagonist with the interventions of Johan Cruyff and Carles Rexach imitators -Jordi Ríos and Toni Albà– which became popular a few years ago with their gags on the television program ‘Crackovia’.
In the final stages of the gala, the actor Jordi Plaza chronologically reviewed the history of the club through the voices of many of his imitations and The singer-songwriter Joan Dausà performed ‘Cant del Barça’ on his piano, created for the 75th anniversary and that still plays before the games that the club’s teams play at home. A dreamlike short film about the history of the club was also released.
At 9:36 p.m., a few minutes before the gala ended, the presenters gave green light to the footballers of the first football team to leave the auditoriumsince this Saturday (2:00 p.m.) they face UD Las Palmas.
As the culmination of the gala, which lasted more than two hours, the stage was filled with former players and athletes, all of them called by Joan Laporta, improvised master of ceremonies, to blow out the candles on a cake created by master pastry chef Christian Escribà. The president, microphone in hand, closed the event by singing the notes of the Barça club’s anthem.
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