“Puerta del Sol. Bona nit, Madrid…”, could be read in one of the latest publications on FC Barcelona’s social networks. Just one day before the Classic, a few hours — 48 when the message was published— between a match between a renewed Barcelona triumphant in Europe and a Real Madrid that quickly came back in the Champions League. A great expectation with which Barcelona seems to have already started to play. The club chaired by Joan Laporta published a video on the club’s official networks in which a huge tarp, placed in the middle of the Puerta del Sol in the Spanish capital, can be seen falling to reveal a gigantic 3D culé shirt with the advertising logo by Coldplay —who released their new album on October 4 Moonmusic— which he will wear this Saturday against Real Madrid. A tradition already established for two years of placing the logo of famous singers on the kit designated for the match against Real Madrid in the League. In the background, the recreation of the sound of the surprised audience. An audiovisual montage created with artificial intelligence in an initiative with Nike and Spotify – the club’s main sponsor – that shows that The Classic has already started without the whistle yet blowing.
But the advertising campaign for the classic shirt has not stayed in Spain. In other cities around the world, such as New York (in Penn Plaza) or London (in Leicester Square), screens have also been seen with the logo or images of Lamine Yamal and the singer of the British band Chris Martin. It is not the first time that Barcelona has landed in Madrid not only to compete on the grass. At the end of 2020, Laporta took his electoral campaign to the capital, hanging his photograph on a large banner 50 meters high and 20 meters wide. Just 200 meters away is the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, located in a 17-story building on the corner of Paseo de la Habana and Santiago Bernabéu street. In the image, in addition to the current Barça president, a phrase: “Want to see you again.”
It is common now for Barcelona to face Real Madrid with logos of successful singers. The alliance between Barça and Spotify in mid-2022 has left —beyond naming the stadium Spotify Camp Nou— different t-shirts to remember the fans. This time, with Coldplay, it will be the fifth. The first came in October 2022, with the Drake emblem, and which ended with a 3-1 defeat against Madrid. In the second league classic of the season, it was Rosalía, with her logo Motomamiwho seemed to propel the culés to a 2-1 victory. It was repeated with the famous language of the Rolling Stones last season, and Karol G was the last protagonist of this new advertising tradition that the British band is now taking over. A take of Madrid that the culés will want to happen again this Saturday, in a classic between two teams at a good time. The Classic, ahead of time, has already begun.
