2. Gaudi, architectural visionary and football fan

Early-20th century visionary Antoni Gaudi is the most celebrated Catalan architect of all time and visitors to Barcelona often visit at least one of the famously unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral, the magical Parc Guell and the Art Nouveau Casa Vicens museum.

However, few of those visiting his works today will be aware that Gaudi was actually a huge football fan. He loved the game to such an extent that the stadium of the first football team in his Catalan hometown of Riudoms was built on land donated by his family back in 1923.

It is not known if Gaudi attended the very first Catalan derby on record in December 1900, as work was ongoing at the Sagrada Familia site when the teams played out a goalless draw walking distance away at the Camp de l'Hotel Casanovas.

That location is now home to the Hospital de Sant Pau, another striking building from the Catalan Art Nouveau movement, designed by Gaudi’s contemporary Lluis Domenech i Montaner, currently open to the public as a museum and gallery.

3. Diagonal

FC Barcelona’s first-ever game was played in 1899 at the Velodromo de la Bonanova, which at the time was a multi-sports ground just outside the city centre. It is now the quiet Turo Parc, a small secluded park close to the bustling Diagonal avenue.

By 1922, Barca had moved further out to Les Corts, the neighbourhood where the Camp Nou stands today. Visitors to the stadium might first stop at the atmospheric Cementerio de Les Cortes, the final resting place of departed Blaugrana heroes including club founder Hans Gamper, Laszlo Kubala, Cesar Rodriguez, Paulino Alcantara and Josep Samitier.

Espanyol also moved around a lot in their early days, playing some of their first games on fields beside the city’s famous ‘Plaza de Toros de las Arenas’ bullring. With interest in bullfighting having fallen in the region over the years, ‘Las Arenas’ has been redeveloped into a multi-use building featuring modern exhibition spaces, an extensive shopping centre, and various restaurants.