Blues face La Liga Champions FC Barcelona to St. Andrew’s on Friday night in their final warm-up match before the campaign proper begins.
As home pre-season friendlies go, it’s fair to say it beats the delights of welcoming Inverness Caledonian Thistle to Birmingham, the fixture that preceded 2014/15.
Barcelona will be without their eight internationals who won the World Cup for Spain – Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsí, Gavi, Pedri, Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres, who scored the only goal of the final against Argentina.
They are getting extra time off, as are Jules Koundé (France), João Cancelo (Portugal), Hamza Abdelkarim (Egypt) and £80 million signing from Newcastle United, England’s Anthony Gordon.
Karim Adeyemi, who didn’t make Germany’s World Cup squad, and Fermín López, who was ruled out for Spain due to injury, have travelled with the squad who are training and basing themselves at St. George’s Park.
Brazil’s Raphinha flew to England in midweek to join up with Barcelona after suffering a hamstring issue during the tournament and Uruguay’s Ronald Araujo has done likewise.
So the visitors will be shorn of much of their star quality, but they will doubtless still provide a stern test for Blues in a sold-out, showpiece match.
Adeyemi has got the chance to reboot his career under compatriot Hansi Flick after the transfer from Borussia Dortmund, which could be worth an eventual £26.5 million.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen was a surprise inclusion in the squad. The German goalkeeper has been in talks about a loan move to Ajax – and it appears that transfer is gathering apace.
So another goalkeeper – well known to Blues fans – is likely to start: Wojciech Szczesny.
He was in goal for Arsenal when Blues defeated them in the 2011 Carling Cup Final, got into a muddle with Laurent Koscielny right at the death and . . . well, you know the rest . . .
Szczesny, 36, came out of retirement to sign for Barca after hanging up the gloves following a spell at Juventus. The former Poland international said he’d lost his passion for the game, which the Catalans have reignited.
He can certainly expect to hear the Obafemi Martins song from the Tilton Road End . . .
Frenkie de Jong is also with Barcelona, but only for rehabilitation on a knee injury sustained during the World Cup for Holland.
Among the talented youngsters to keep an eye out for on Friday are defender Alvaro Cortés, creative midfielder Tommy Marques and attackers Ebrima Tunkara and Shane Kluivert, son of former Dutch star Patrick Kluivert.
The friendly marks Barcelona’s return to St. Andrew’s after 66 years.
The teams famously met in successive Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, an invitational competition open to teams representing host cities of industrial trade fairs.
Barcelona beat the London XI in the inaugural final in 1958, needing a replay in Switzerland to beat Blues in the semi-finals. Blues won the first leg at St. Andrew’s 4-3, before a 1-0 defeat away, thus necessitating a one-off decider.
Then, in March 1960, Blues went into the final against the Blaugrana struggling in the lower reaches of the First Division.
Barcelona were also playing in the European Cup and had just dismantled Wolves 9-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.
Torrential rain made the St. Andrew’s surface a quagmire as Blues sought to sit deep and strike on the counter attack in front of a fervent 40,524 crowd.
Blues – who played in white shirts, black shorts and white socks – were cloying and Barcelona couldn’t find a way through. Trevor Smith and Dick Neal were rocks at the back.
At the other end, Gordon Astall came close to scoring with a backheel attempt and Blues felt they should have had a penalty with 17 minutes left when Johnny Gordon was felled in the box.
The match ended 0-0 and Blues, who escaped relegation on the final day of the season, went into the return at Camp Nou in May in reasonable frame of mind.
Alas, Barcelona scored twice in the opening six minutes and with Hungarian great Zoltan Czibor and the recalled László Kubala to the fore, stretched the lead to 4-0 before Harry Hooper pulled a goal back, heading in Peter Murphy’s cross.
So Blues, England’s European pioneers, fell in the final but their efforts were recognised by the 70,000 home crowd, who gave them a rapturous send-off.
Blues remained in Spain for a post-season tour.
They were invited to play Third Division Atletico Baleares in honour of the opening of the club’s new stadium in Palma de Mallorca, but an ill-tempered games was abandoned.
Murphy and Neal were sent-off, with Murphy’s foul on the Atletico captain, Crespí, breaking his leg so badly that he was forced to retire from football.
Blues then drew 1-1 against a Sevilla XI and were subsequently put on notice by the FA that they wouldn’t be allowed to play overseas again ‘until [they] have given firm undertakings to uphold the prestige and reputation of British clubs and the FA at all times’.
