Barça starts off Chinese New Year in style

February 12, 2021 marked the start of Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, as well as the beginning of the Year of the Ox. The festival took place from the 11th to the 17th; however, the celebrations can last up to 15 days.  Traditionally, people travel home from all over the world so they can spend the festival with their families. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were forced to celebrate without their relatives. Nonetheless, FC Barcelona wanted to make sure their fans know that “the Barça family will always be by their side.”

For this special occasion, the Catalan club not only produced a nice video saying, “All Journeys Lead Home,” but the players also wore special jerseys for their warm-up and team photo before the game against Alaves. At first glance, the jersey might not seem all that different, but keen-eyed fans may have noticed that the players’ names on the back are actually written in Simplified Chinese. Moreover, the players also posed for the team photo with a banner wishing Chinese people around the globe a happy Chinese New Year.

The 5-1 win over Alaves was a special match for two players in particular: Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi. For the French winger, it was his 100th game for FC Barcelona, a century of matches in which he recorded 25 goals and 19 assists. In the same game, Lionel Messi added another club record to his name. The Argentine matched Xavi Hernandez’s appearance tally by playing in his 505th (!) game for Barcelona in LaLiga.

It goes without saying that Barça made Chinese New Year extra special with a big win and this one-of-a-kind jersey.