Barca bring crowds as Romanov banking for future

Published Date:
30 July 2007
By COLLEEN PATERSON
VLADIMIR ROMANOV has spent countless hours trying to convince anyone who will listen that Hearts have the potential and the backing to live with Europe's top clubs in the Champions League.
And on Saturday the record number of supporters who turned out to watch them take on the superstars of Barcelona just might have given the Russian banker's theory some real credibility.

Admittedly, Barca are a huge draw no matter where or who they are playing and a sizeable chunk of the crowd at Murrayfield would have been neutrals, simply there to catch a rare sight of the likes of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o or Deco in the flesh.

But in the bars surrounding Scotland's national rugby ground prior to kick-off and everywhere you looked in the 57,857 crowd who packed inside, there were Hearts scarves, flags and new home strips.

Sales in the club shops and their order hotline increased considerably over the last few weeks in the build-up to Saturday's hotly-anticipated clash with one of the biggest sides in world football.

But more important than the amount of merchandise they have shifted recently, the Hearts supporters who made up the bulk of the crowd proved that if top-quality football is on offer at Tynecastle of Murrayfield, then they will turn out in numbers.

Hearts owner Romanov has vowed from day one that his side will soon be real contenders for the SPL title and that he will build a side strong enough to compete in Europe's elite competition.

One of his main missions is to redevelop and increase capacity at the Gorgie stadium and those plans are already under way, but Romanov knows that his work will have been in vain if he does not ensure a full stadium week in, week out.

However, any worries he had on that front would have evaporated as he took his seat at Murrayfield on Saturday as the Jambos who packed inside showed their appetite for games against top European sides.

Supporters young and old gave Barca a rousing reception and Scotland certainly appears to have made a good impression on Barcelona, with manager Frank Rijkaard hinting his superstars may return next year for pre- season training.

And the Barca stars have gone down a storm at their St Andrews base, training in front of hundreds of supporters every day and signing thousands of autographs on everything from strips to crumpled up bits of paper.

But bizarrely it was Juho Makela, the only man to score a goal against the Catalan side during their stay in the country, who made the biggest impression on the players. The Finn may have been frozen out and farmed out by Hearts in the last campaign but his goal at Murrayfield on Saturday meant he was singled out for praise by defender Lilian Thuram. Many of those sitting in the stands were probably there just for the privilege of seeing Ronaldinho in action, and they weren't disappointed as the striker fired home two goals in his 45-minute run-out.

Makela had levelled for the home side just minutes after the Samba star's penalty opener and Thuram admitted he had been impressed by both Hearts and the striker's individual performance in the first half before he was replaced by Saulius Mikoliunas.

Thuram said: "Hearts were a good team. For us it wasn't easy, that was maybe partly because we played another game just a couple of days before, against Dundee United. But Hearts did well against us and I think that they were probably the better side in the first half. I was impressed with the player out on the right, Makela, he did well in the first 45 minutes, and also with the French player, Ibrahim Tall."

Henry was making only his second appearance for the club and although he failed to add to his debut strike against Dundee United on Thursday night, Thuram believes he will be a valuable addition to the side, adding: "I think that Henry will become a very big player for Barcelona, it will just be a case of getting used to the other players but you can see that already he is doing well."

While the superstars of Barcelona were the main attraction, 16-year-old Bojan Krkic threatened to steal the limelight from his more famous team-mates when he was brought on in the second half.

Serbian-Spanish Krkic has been labelled one of the most exciting prospects of his time and has been with the Catalan club since the age of just nine.

Having seen the little striker in action, surely no-one in the Murrayfield crowd could argue with that tag as he delighted with a number of twists and flicks and linked up brilliantly with Henry.

He revealed that former Arsenal frontman Henry had talked him through his substitute appearance and admitted that even he couldn't quite believe that he was part of such a star-studded line-up, saying: "It is amazing, last year I was in the house watching television and watching Eto'o and Henry play in the World Cup. To have played in the same team as them against Hearts on Saturday was just an incredible feeling.

"Henry has such great experience and he kept talking to me through the game and telling me where to go and kept it very simple."

Taken from the Scotsman