UCL ticket price spikes war between Man United and Barcelona

Before Manchester United and Barcelona put on the most attention-grabbing quarter-finals of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League in April, the two clubs already started a contest over the ticket prices for visiting fans at the Old Trafford and Camp Nou.

First Barcelona decided to charge 102 pounds (about 134 U.S. dollars) for each of the 4.610 tickets assigned to the visiting fans of United for the second-leg game at Camp Nou on April 16. This price is higher than any away game except final in the history of the Red Devils.

In response, the English club made the "difficult decision" to charge the same for visiting Barcelona fans who will travel to the Old Trafford for the first-leg game on April 10. Moreover, United will spend every of the extra 27 pounds as a subsidy to support the fans who will go to Barcelona for their ticket cost.

Old Trafford, home ground to Manchester United of Premier League. /VCG Photo

"In this instance, we believe that our traveling supporters are again being subjected to increased/excessive ticket prices from the host club… We have again taken the difficult decision to charge FC Barcelona fans for the home leg at Old Trafford the same amount that FC Barcelona are charging for the away fixture (102 pounds). We will use the additional revenue gained from this to subsidize our traveling support by paying the 27 pounds price difference for each of our traveling supporters," said United in a statement.

This will not be the first time for the Red Devils to be involved in a ticket price competition in the Champions League. Back in Group H, the club already took the same move for their away game against Valencia, Last season, they also supported traveling fans with subsidies in the first-leg game against Sevilla in the round-of-16.

Raising the ticket price for visiting fans was not new either in UCL. Last season in Group B, Anderlecht charged traveling fans 100 euros (about 114 dollars) for the home game against Bayern Munich. Though Bayern Munich tried to help their supporters lower the ticket price with subsidies, many fans boycotted the game. Liverpool also complained to the UEFA last season that the ticket price was three-time high for away fans compared with that for home fans for the game against Porto.

(Top image: Camp Nou, home ground to Barcelona of La Liga. /VCG Photo)