Chapecoense, the Brazilian club who lost 19 of its players and staff in a plane crash last November, faced Barcelona in the Camp Nou on Monday evening.
Barca had announced earlier in the summer that they had asked Chape to play them in the Joan Gamper Trophy match, an annual invitational game in which the Spanish club traditionally unveil their team prior to the new season.
The three players that survived the crash – Neto, Alan Ruschel and Jackson Follman – were all invited on to the pitch ahead of the game.
Ruschel captained his side on his return to action. When the time came for him to be substituted, Barcelona’s fans and players applauded him off the pitch.
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The game itself was won by Barcelona – Gerard Deulofeu, Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Denis Suarez all scoring in a 5-0 victory.
Chapecoense had been travelling to the Colombian city of Medellin to contest the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional when their aircraft crashed into a hillside on November 28. 71 of the 77 people on board were killed.
Since the accident, Chape have signed 25 new players along with promoting nine youngsters from their youth ranks.
