Stop the bus, we want a Wii, say Barca boys

Lionel Messi and company were amongst those affected by this week’s air traffic chaos. But Barcelona had a luxurious back-up plan for their trip to Milan. David Shonfield reports

FORTY SIX feet long, 12 feet high, 480 horsepower... from the outside, it’s the standard Scania luxury coach. But inside, things are a bit different.

For a start the standard coaches are built to carry 53 passengers. Leather seats and climate control are standard of course. Inside it’s quieter than most luxury cars. But to carry superstars, you need more than five-star comfort.

The Barcelona coach is purpose-built to carry a maximum 36 passengers, and for the 985-kilometre ride to Milan there were just 20 players and three staff – with other staff travelling in a separate vehicle.

Two card tables, plus a lounge area with another table, provided space to stretch as well as gamble away a few euro. Bored with that the players, could watch films – Yes Man and Invictus were the favourites – on one of six plasma TV screens or use one of the two DVD players.

For those still bored, there was always the internet option via a high speed onboard broadband link.

The 20 players were accompanied by three Barcelona staff. Ricard Pruna, one of the club’s medical team; Rafael Yuste, a Barcelona vice-president, and Pepe Costa, chief scout who doubles as the club’s problem solver.

Manager Pep Guardiola said: “If we had to travel by coach every time it would be very tiresome, but it’s okay once in a while. It’s not convenient but nothing went wrong. We were happy to do it and I prefer a 14-hour coach trip to watching the semi-finals on TV. It’s lucky Inter knocked out CSKA Moscow otherwise we’d have had to leave on Saturday!”