Catalan sports daily Sport posted some anecdotes about the match between the K League All-Stars and FC Barcelona. What follows is a translation of the article; the original can be found here.

Warming up in the locker room

The sensation of the suffocating heat that was present in the Sangam World Cup Stadium was certainly oppressive. So much so that Pep Guardiola wanted to avoid unnecessary suffering for his players, and before the game they did not warm up on the field of play but in their locker room.

Two survivors from 2007

Only three years have passed, but the Barça squad has changed a lot since 2007.  If, in addition, we take into account the other players (Puyol, Xavi, Valdés, Iniesta…) that were there then have not traveled on this tour, the result is that only Abidal and Oier have repeated this tour to Asia.

Milito, captain

Without Puyol, Xavi or Valdés, and as happened in Norway, less habitual players had the opportunity to be captains of Barça for a day. In the debut against Varelenga it was Bojan and Keita, and against the Koreans Gaby Milito and Abidal had this honor.

If Barça arrived in Korea with a lot of absences, the announcement that Messi would not play, and later that he would only play some minutes, chilled much of the interest in going to the game for the fans. Finally, with difficulty, they arrived at a half-price admission.

Seoul advertising

The Barça players took to the field of play with blue shirts and with advertising, something very uncommon. The advertising was a promotion for Seoul as a tourist destination.

The assistant referee, a fan of Messi

The interest in seeing Leo Messi was not just among the fans. One of the assistant referees, too, could not hide his interest for the Argentine. In the tunnel from the locker rooms before they came out in the second half, he asked Sport’s companion from TV3 Quim with heightened interest if Messi would come out in the second half, because he really wanted to see him play.

13 years without going green

Barça premiered their second kit in this match, with a green jersey. And what is true is that it has been awhile since the team wore green. To be more precise, we have to go back to the 1996-97 season with Bobby Robson on the bench and Ronaldo as the star of the team.

Hleb, not even on the bench

Pep Guardiola continues to make it clear that he is not counting on Hleb. Although he traveled with the team on the tour, the fact is that for this first game he was not even on the bench.

Vuvuzuelas arrived in Korea

Fortunately it was not the atmosphere that was lived through in South Africa, but the vuvuzuelas made famous in the World Cup appeared also in Korea. They weren’t such a bother but they could still be heard.

Not just one spectator, but two

In the second half, two spectators made the most of the opportunity to jump onto the field of play.  The first one did so wearing a Barça jersey, and the second was dressed as Barça. The two were subdued by stadium security.