Want to include a world-class sporting event in your overseas travels? Here are five great places to do just that...
The destination: The Nou Camp, Barcelona
The sport: Football, although the sporting entity that is FC Barcelona also incorporates teams that play basketball, hockey, indoor football, handball, baseball and 114 other sports.
The experience: One of two truly massive clubs in Spain (deadly rivals Real Madrid being the other), Barcelona’s gobsmackingly-massive stadium more than merits a visit, even if you're not even into football. Match tickets can be picked up from around 20 euros and upwards. Even if you can’t catch a game, the stadium tour is fascinating and gives you surprisingly free reign to explore this 98,000-seater cathedral of sport. Vertigo-sufferers may want to skip the visit to the press box, which is perched precariously at the top of the stadium and overhangs the pitch at a frightening angle.
Star player: Diminutive Argentine winger Lionel Messi is terrifyingly talented and hailed by fans as "the new Maradona".
Impress fellow spectators with your knowledge: Although Barca’s players are typically drawn from across Europe and the world, there hasn’t been an Englishman at the club since BBC stalwart Gary Lineker departed in the late 1980s.
What else to do in Barcelona: Check out the street life in the lively Ramblas, stare at the remarkable Sagrada Familia cathedral or relax on the city beach. Get more info from our Barcelona travel guide.
