BARRY Town were headed into unchartered waters today in 2001 when the provincial Welsh side faced Porto in the Champions League second qualifying round. And to continue the nautical theme, they were hopefully out of their depth, losing 8-0 to the Portuguese champions.

Having become the first League of Wales side to win a Champions League tie when they defeated the Azerbaijan champions FC Shamkir, Barry boss Peter Nicholas was aiming high. “It would be nice if we could perhaps get a draw”, he said someone optimistically.

After the first 45 minutes in the Estadio das Antas Nicholas had to change his plans somewhat, as the team from the valleys found themselves 5-0 down. A young Deco was the heartbeat of the side netting a first-half hat-trick. The new Chelsea midfielder didn’t even get the matchball that night though as Renivaldo Pena scored twice in each half as Barry were humiliated.

When the two sides met a week later the gulf between was highlighted after Porto announced they had signed Jardel from Galatasaray for £8m earlier that day.

The Dragons were playing simply for pride and showed more bouncebackability than a check from Luton Town when they recorded a surprise 3-1 win in front of a sold-out crowd at Jenner Park. Barry’s European tour was over, with a 9-3 aggregate loss.

Their opponents that night went all the way in the Champions League in 2004 as Jose Mourinho quietly announced his arrival on the world stage. Tough times followed for Town though, as crowds of 500 didn’t provide the money the team needed to operate professionally causing the club to go into administration in 2003 with debts of almost £1m.

Another 8-0 loss followed, this time to Caernarfon Town, as the club were relegated into Welsh League Division One, where they currently reside following another relegation and subsequent promotion.

Unfortunately youtube doesn’t have too much Barry Town action, so you’ll have to make do with some alternative Barry-action below. Enjoy that, have a gander at what we were up to last year and join us tomorrow for more of the same.

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