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Spanish football fan travels to see Newcastle vs Barcelona...only to turn up at the wrong St. James' Park in Exeter
Martin Macdonald
- 11 Mar 2026 08:15 CDT
- 4 min read
News
There was drama in the Champions League on Tuesday evening as Barcelona earned a late 1-1 draw away versus Newcastle at St. James' Park.
Harvey Barnes gave the hosts the lead with a short-range finish following a superb cross by Jacob Murphy, but the Magpies' hearts were broken in injury time as Lamine Yamal stepped up to convert a penalty following Malick Thiaw's clumsy challenge on Dani Olmo.
Unfortunately for one Barca fan, he missed the action as he went to the wrong venue.
It was a tale of two cities and two very different football grounds for an @FCBarcelona fan who turned up at the wrong St James Park last night 🏟️
The Spanish supporter, who made the journey to Devon from London, turned up at the turnstiles of Exeter City’s Adam Stansfield stand… pic.twitter.com/uhpqsKWWQT— Exeter City FC (@OfficialECFC) March 11, 2026
In fact, not only did he visit the wrong venue, but the completely wrong St. James' Park.
While the Champions League was being hosted at St. James' Park in Newcastle, there was a League One fixture taking place between Exeter City and Lincoln City at the other St. James' Park in Exeter - and the fan inadvertently went to the latter.
A social media post from Exeter confirmed:
"It was a tale of two cities and two very different football grounds for a Barcelona fan fan who turned up at the wrong St James Park last night
"The Spanish supporter, who made the journey to Devon from London, turned up at the turnstiles of Exeter City’s Adam Stansfield stand last night, expecting to see his team take on Newcastle.
"It was only when he showed his ticket to staff that he realised his mistake.
"But he got to see a got to see a game of football – Exeter City staff sorted him out a ticket for the game against Lincoln under the lights of the real St James Park!
"Adam Spencer, Supporter Experience Officer at Exeter City, said: 'One of our volunteers came to the office to let us know that this guy had turned up expecting to see FC Barcelona. His English wasn’t great, but from what we could gather, he’d come from London. My guess is he’d put St James Park in his phone and then just followed the directions from there.
“'He was pretty gutted and a bit embarrassed. So, we sorted him out a ticket and he got to watch a game at the real St James Park. He’d be welcome back any time.'”
Did this actually happen?
Social media users were quick to point out that this story sounded false, especially since the supporter wasn't identified by name.
One user said, "this never happened did it" while another said "what a weird thing to make up."
Exeter is adamant that it did and questioned in the replies why they would make such a story up.
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