The Europa League round of 16 second leg between Galatasaray and Barça was marked by a great atmosphere from the home fans. However, Xavi Hernández’s players were not alone. This was mostly due to the supporters’ clubs, who provided almost all the supporters in the stands of the Nef Stadyumu. Thanks to them, the team had an extra push to get the victory.
The supporters’ club that led the way was the Penya Blaugrana de Baghdad, which sent a total of 74 supporters to Istanbul to attend the game. This penya, which obtained the tickets with the collaboration of the Supporters’ Clubs World Confederation and the World Federation (to which it belongs), was mainly responsible for the fact that part of the stands at the Galatasaray stadium were dyed in blaugrana. After 90 minutes of non-stop cheering, they were able to celebrate the victory and the passage to the quarter-finals.
PB Baghdad was not the only supporters’ club present at the Galatasaray-Barça match. There were also supporters from PB Basrah, PB Beirut, PB Poznan and PB London (World Federation), as well as from PB Almogàvers and PB Anguera (Federació Barcelonès Oest). All of them showed, once again, that the capillarity of the supporters’ clubs around the world is vital to ensure the support of the blaugrana teams in any away match.
