What happened when Barcelona played Brazil in 1999 | OneFootball

Highlights

In terms of the strangest football matches in history, Barcelona vs Brazil is surely right up there. To mark Barça’s centenary in 1999, the Brazilian national team travelled to Camp Nou to participate in one of the most bizarre exhibition matches ever.

Barcelona were managed by Louis van Gaal at the time. The Dutchman deployed a strong starting line-up featuring Luis Figo, Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola and Patrick Kluivert.

Brazil, meanwhile, began the match with some of the world’s most revered footballers in their XI. Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Romario and Ronaldo were all named in the Selecao’s starting line-up.

How Barcelona and Brazil lined up

Barcelona's starting XI

Brazil's starting XI

Legends everywhere. There were a few players who were lucky to feature, not least defender Rafael Scheidt, who is still regarded as one of Celtic’s worst-ever signings. So, what happened during the match?

The match lived up to its billing

The stars didn't disappoint

Ronaldo, who was an Inter Milan player by this point, opened the scoring with a typically classy finish. The world-class striker sold goalkeeper Ruud Hesp with a feint before finding the back of the net. Luis Enrique then equalised with a close-range volley.

Rivaldo, who was a Barcelona player at the time, restored Brazil’s one-goal advantage with a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the box. However, the match finished 2-2 when Brazil goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni spilt Figo’s free-kick, allowing Phillip Cocu to tap home from eight yards. You can watch the goals here…

The video ends with Ronaldo and Figo, two of the best players of their era, swapping shirts. They'd go on to eventually team together at Real Madrid as members of the Galacticos. The stars in the game didn't disappoint, and the match was ultimately a very entertaining affair.

One of several club vs country matches

England have taken part in a few

The match was obviously unusual in the sense that it was a club taking on a country, but it's far from the first instance of such an event. There have been similar matches in the past, such as England playing Tottenham in 1961, Arsenal taking on France in 1989 and the Gunners facing Australia in 1984.

We haven't had a match between a club and an international side in quite some time, though, which is a shame. We’d love to see more of these unusual matches between clubs and countries. Imagine Real Madrid vs France, Barcelona vs Argentina, Bayern Munich vs Germany or Manchester United vs England. We can dream.