Great atmosphere for Barca as Blues prep ramps up

[BBC] [Getty Images] There was a historical perspective to Friday's game against Barcelona, as way back in 1960, Blues were the first English club to play in a European cup final (spoiler: we didn't win). Rerunning this fixture was a good excuse for a pre-season friendly. St Andrew's was packed. There was barely a seat without a bum on it and the atmosphere was banging. Barca had brought along a few first-teamers, but a lot of their squad were development players, albeit players who already had impressive CVs despite their tender ages, such as the 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim, who played for Egypt at the World Cup. One very recognisable member of the Barca squad was Wojciech Szczesny, whom any Blues fan aged over about 23 will know was the Arsenal goalkeeper who made that howler in the League Cup final in 2011. Needless to say he received a proper Birmingham City welcome! Most of the Birmingham first team were involved apart from Demarai Gray and Paik Seung-ho, who were both injured, and it was really good to see the team not intimidated by the opponents and the occasion. But Birmingham were playing kids, I hear you say. True, but these were kids who are part of one of the world's most decorated clubs - they all showed incredible pace and skill. Therefore, 2-2 was a decent score after 90 minutes. Abdelkarim's first two senior goals were countered by August Priske's header and an equaliser from Jhon Solis. A superb double save by James Beadle made up for his mistake for Barca's second goal. I was rather surprised to find out there was a penalty shootout to follow, as I'd missed the announcement before the start of the game. Beadle was instrumental in us winning the shootout with two saves before Patrick Roberts sealed the deal and sent many thousands of Blues fans home happy. Another bonus was seeing Jude Bellingham in the crowd to watch the game. I'm sure Real Madrid fans will have found it amusing that he was cheering on Birmingham beating their sworn rivals. The "real" football starts this weekend with a trip to Swansea City in the first round of the EFL Cup. Hopefully, we will have put some of our away travails aside and come away from this with a ticket into the next round. Hear and read more from Kym Smith on Birmingham Hospital Radio