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Honestly I never thought I’d get to see Messi’s old team play against Pep’s squad but here I was trying to find tickets without going broke. Anyways let me walk you through my whole mess.
The Sticker Shock
First thing I did? Googled “Barca Man City tickets”. Almost spit out my coffee seeing prices. Third-party sites wanted like £400 for nosebleed seats? No way I’m paying that. Thought about giving up already.
My 3 Crappy Attempts
Tip 1: Official Channels First
Went straight to club sites at 3am my time hoping for presale. Barcelona’s queue system? Frozen. City’s page? Crashed twice. Wasted two hours clicking refresh like an idiot.
Tip 2: Waiting Game
Bookmarked 5 resale sites. Set crazy price alerts. For three days straight, my phone blew up with “DEAL! £350!!” notifications. Almost caved Tuesday night but held out.
Tip 3: The Social Hail Mary
Posted in every football Facebook group I knew:
- “Legit need 1 ticket pls DM”
- Got 15 scam offers (£100 ‘e-tickets’ from Gmail accounts)
- One dude wanted Bitcoin payment
- Actual legit guy cancelled last minute
Was ready to cry into my keyboard.
How It Actually Went Down
Thursday 11pm. Some bloke named Dave from Manchester messaged me – his mate bailed last minute. Met him outside the pub near stadium. Paid £120 cash for his spare. Felt shady as hell but ticket scanned green. Almost hugged the turnstile guy.
Total cost?
- Ticket: £120
- Four nights refreshing pages: Priceless
- Almost getting scammed 3 times: Mild trauma
Worth every penny watching Foden score that header though.