The emblematic London stadium will be the scene of the Champions League final. It was founded in 1923, demolished in 2002 and reopened in 2007. Its current version cost almost 1,100 million euros and is now the stadium with the most bathrooms in the world.
In every Catalan corner, a seven-letter word in English is heard these days much more than any other in any language. « Wembley », they say, they say and they say. The word is reproduced on the covers of newspapers and magazines, on the radio and on television channels. Although it is not in any of the dictionaries, that proper name is already part of everyday life in Barcelona.
It happens that there, in that stadium of legends and mythologies, Barcelona will play the final of the Champions Leagueagainst Manchester United. It is not just another game: it is the most important of the year at the club level; and there the champion of Spain and the champion of England will be face to face.
It is not just another stadium: there, in 1992, Barcelona won its first title in the European Cup against Sampdoria, in the last stretch of extra time; there, too, in 1968, Manchester United resurrected its glory a decade after the Munich Tragedy.
Writes the journalist Roberto Rodríguez, in the newspaper La Vanguardia: «There are football stadiums where history is breathed, where attending a match in itself is an unforgettable experience, even though the spectacle is not of the utmost importance.
This feeling is the result of tradition, of the legends that have been written over the years on a lawn blessed by numerous stars. One of those fields is without a doubt Wembley ."
Wembley Stadium has magic and mysteries. Before, now, always. An archer can be forever transformed into León, like the Argentine Miguel Rugilo; another can become a Scorpion, like the Colombian René Higuita; a striker like the Englishman Geoffrey Hurst can do what no one has ever done: three goals in a World Cup final; the doubt regarding a goal can be born on their soil and can last forever, like that winning cry from England in the 1966 World Cup final; and a midfielder, like Argentine Antonio Rattín, can be encouraged to challenge an entire Empire by sitting on the carpet for the Queen.
Wembley was founded in 1923, demolished in 2002 and reopened in 2007. In its long history it has hosted all the major competitions. Among them, the 1948 Olympic Games; the 1966 World Cup and the 1996 Euro Cup. Now another luxury will be allowed: to host the best match that the world of football can offer at club level.
And it is already preparing, of course, for the 2012 Olympic Games. UEFA inevitably rates it with the highest possible rating: five stars. The current extremely modern construction has a capacity for 90,000 spectators and cost close to 1,100 million euros. A curiosity that also speaks of its comforts: it is the stadium with the most bathrooms in the world.
Source images: Wembley Stadium.