Barcelona bids farewell to old Mestalla before Valencia's move to new stadium

FC Barcelona will play their last match at the Mestalla in La Liga, after over a century of encounters at the stadium, as Valencia prepares to move to their new ground next season, according to the Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo".

Barcelona's first encounter at Mestalla against Valencia was in 1925, while data from BD Futbol indicates that the Catalan team has faced the bats at this stadium on 114 occasions.

FC Barcelona's matches at Mestalla have not been limited to facing Valencia, as the team has played seven Copa del Rey finals at the stadium, achieving four victories and three defeats. Notably, in the 1990 final, Barcelona, led by Johan Cruyff, defeated Real Madrid during the period when the Dream Team was being formed.

Barcelona, led by Pep Guardiola, won their first of six trophies in the 2009 season at Mestalla, while the team played a league match against Villarreal at the same stadium in 1998, during their first visit to face the team.

Construction work on the new Mestalla Stadium will resume in January 2025 after a 16-year halt. The project is expected to be completed in July 2027, with costs exceeding €300 million.

The stadium will accommodate around 66,000 spectators upon its opening, with a final capacity of 70,044 seats, including 3,000 seats for VIPs, compared to 49,430 seats in the current stadium.

The new Mestalla will be the fifth largest stadium in Spain by capacity, behind Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabéu, La Cartuja, and Metropolitano. Meanwhile, Valencia is expecting a visit from FIFA at the end of this year to enhance the stadium's chances of hosting matches in the FIFA World Cup.

In recent days, the construction of the roof structure at the Mestalla Stadium has commenced, which will cover all seats, while attempting to maintain the distinctive feature of Mestalla, which is the vertical nature of the stands.