Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Kenya U19 promising football youngsters once again were given yet another lifetime moment after watching Football Club Barcelona against Las Palmas in match day 30 of the La Liga Santander at the iconic Estadio Olympico in Barcelona on Saturday night.

It is a night that will probably stick in the minds of the players who were given the magical opportunity to witness with their bare eyes ‘Spanish football ‘ as displayed by the Catalan club.

First watching Barcelona

It was the first time the players who are part of the Talanta Hela U19 watched a La Liga game live in the Stadium and considering that it was a Barcelona match, then it meant a lot to the players especially having watch the team on television or listened to radio or newspaper about the team that has attracted great number of supporter across the globe based on the past success.

Assistant coach for the boys team Hesbon Nyabinge lauded the move to take the players to follow the proceedings at the 1992 Olympic venue noting that it will have unfading impact of the players in various aspects both on and outside the pitch.

“These the moments the we live for and for sure they are nostalgic. The players have gathered a myriad of lessons from the fixture. from tactical discipline as displayed by Las Palmas and the calmness of the host team in search of a goal. Basically, we have picked lessons from the way fans enter the stadium, warm up and many more. It was a great exposure to the players and the coaches,” Nyabinge stated.

“I will forever cherish this moment,I never imagined if one day I would step in an a stadium to watch a Barcelona game live. It was just magical and I would like to appreciate the leadership of the Kenya Academy of Sports and our Cabinet Secretary for Sports Ababu Namwamba for this gesture,” Robert Mutie, a striker for the Boys team stated.

Lesson in Barcelona

In the match, Barcelona managed to break a seemingly tough Las Palmas backline with a superb Raphinha header, connecting a beautiful lofted pass from substitute Joao Felix just 13 minutes after the break.

“It was a good game although Barcelona was not clinical enough. I learned a lot from that game like pressing, communication and marking. The game makes me work more harder because of the zeal to play before such a huge crowd of fans and atmosphere. My desire is to one day play in such a stadium or a team, for sure it feels so nice,” Philister Atieno stated.

Barcelona are hosting their home matches this term at the Estadio Olympico because their renowned home Camp is undergoing renovations to give a facelift.

The Olympico arena at the heart of the Barcelona City hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics Games and the presence of the Kenyans on Saturday was a reminiscence of the great William Tanui and Matthew Birir who staged a glorious performance to win gold medals in the men’s 800m and 3000m steeplechase respectively.

Meanwhile, the Talanta Hela Teams continues their tour here in Spain with elite training sessions and top notch friendly matches.

On Monday the boys team under the guidance of coach Stanley Okumbi who led them to the Costa Daura victory will tackle Football Club Eldense at the Nastic Sports Academy.