Barcelona Femení honour former Seleccio players

Seleccio Ciutat Barcelona faced Unió Esportiva Centelles in a curtain-raiser to Barcelona’s men’s team playing CSKA Sofía in a charity festival at the Camp Nou on December 25th, 1970, writes Martin Whiteley.

Considered to be the introduction to the future women’s set up at Barcelona those players were honoured this week.

Inmaculada Cabecerán wanted to play football (despite it still being prohibited for women) and thought there would be others that wanted to do the same.

After a discussion with Barca president Agustí Montal, he said that if Immaculada could get enough players to form a team he would support her.

Not officially part of the Barcelona family, Seleccio could not wear the club shirt nor use the club’s name and instead, they appeared in white shirts, blue shorts, and Barca socks.

Barcelona Femení

This past Wednesday Futbol Club Barcelona Femení finally got to make an appearance at the historic location when they welcomed cross-city rivals Espanyol.

Alexia Putellas became the first female Barcelona player to score at the Camp Nou when she headed home a corner just before the interval.

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In a half-time presentation former Seleccio player, Carme Nieto represented the team and received a model of the stadium.

The league leaders pressed home their advantage in the second half to run out 5-0 winners to claim their 11th straight league victory to start the season.

Real Madrid Femenino

With the Santiago Bernabeu stadium being renovated, surely it will be only a matter of time before the female players of Real Madrid Femenino get to play at their club’s iconic venue.

In midweek Real defeated Madrid CFF 2-0 to secure their seventh victory in their last eight outings. That success for Real moved them onto 31 points and kept them just two points behind leaders Barcelona, although the Catalan side does have three games in hand.

Both Barca and Real were thwarted by a snowstorm at the weekend which caused their games to be postponed.

Levante

Levante is another club that has spruced up its primary venue recently. A visit from its women’s side in due course would certainly showcase the undoubted talent in that team.

A hat-trick from Esther Gonzalez saw Levante twice come from behind to defeat Valencia 3-2 on their travels in midweek.

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The same player grabbed the only goal of the game for Levante in the match of the round at home to UDG Tenerife on Saturday.

The win over the team who started the round in third place on 30 points lifted Levante above their opponents and into the final Champions League spot by a single point. The hosts also still have a game in hand on UDG Tenerife.

The Camp Nou game from the early seventies was witnessed by over 60,000 people but saw no goals. The latest game got the goals but was without a crowd due to Covid-19 protocols.

The two great attributes that make up a football occasion will hopefully one day be able to successfully combine.

Let’s hope that it will not take another 50 plus years for that event to happen.

You can follow Martin on Twitter @673martin