DISCLAIMER: The headline above does not refer to all Irish football fans. It refers to a portion of Irish fans interested in watching Liverpool and Barcelona play at the Aviva Stadium.
Today is the Tuesday ahead of a Bank Holiday weekend. With the sweet, sweet promise of holidays on the horizon, it can be quite difficult to maintain focus on something as prosaic as work. What better way to keep our minds away from our desk, then, than an impromptu twitter rumour? This one was a cracker.
Neil O'Riordan of the Irish Sun this morning broke the news that Celtic and Barcelona would play a pre-season friendly game at the Aviva this summer, as part of the International Champions Cup, which is a kind of more competitive Champions League group stage.
Barcelona v Celtic in the Aviva Stadium this summer on the cards as part of the International Champions Cup. Full story in @IrishSunSport
— Neil O'Riordan (@noriordan) March 22, 2016
This was revealed ahead of the official announcement at 2pm. This has since been confirmed as true: Barcelona and Celtic will play in Dublin on July 30. Then, out of nowhere, rumours of a second game to be held in Dublin began circulating:
Liverpool to play Barcelona in Dublin. Tour games to be announced at 2pm.
— Matt Ladson (@mattladson) March 22, 2016
#LFC reportedly set to take on Barcelona at Aviva Stadium on August 6. If true, the Dublin Decider would become a Demolition Derby #fcblive
— Richard Buxton (@RichardBuxton_) March 22, 2016
Confirmed by the Irish media. Liverpool will play Barcelona on August 6th at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) March 22, 2016
With many fans getting rather excited at the prospect of seeing Luis Suarez against his former side and watching Lionel Messi versus human floodgate Simon Mignolet, they were aquiver with anticipation for the official announcement at 2pm. Then it landed:
Some of the Irish media outlets that reported Liverpool vs Barcelona is in the Aviva have deleted their tweets. So, will have to hold out.
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) March 22, 2016
LFC vs. Barcelona announced only as 'European venue' - probably not Dublin given Barca play there vs. Celtic. Sorry Irish Reds!
— Matt Ladson (@mattladson) March 22, 2016
The game is not, in fact, definitely going ahead in Dublin. Instead it is fixed for a European venue yet to be confirmed in a kind of logistical trolling.
We stress that the game might yet still be at the Aviva, but given the fact that the game would likely sell about as twice as many tickets as can be sold for the Aviva, perhaps our only hope of it being held in Ireland is if it is held in Croke Park. Which, if it happened, would cause the moving of the All-Ireland quarter-finals and set a new record for angry calls to Joe Duffy's Liveline.
The full Champions Cup fixtures are below:
Your #ICC2016 Schedule! pic.twitter.com/XEspFPDKHa
— International Champions Cup (@IntChampionsCup) March 22, 2016
