Newcastle United thought they'd plucked out a "glamour" trip to the Nou Camp when the draw for the Champions League was made in 1997/98 for the group stages.
Indeed, many had dreamed of watching the Magpies push on the competition against the likes of Rivaldo, Pep Guardiola and Giovanni in front of a full house at the famous Barca stadium. And while the first game - in which Tino Asprilla grabbed a hat-trick in a 3-2 win - was the stuff that dreams were made of, the second leg could not have been more contrasting.
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A crowd of just 25,000 turned up at the 100,000 capacity venue meaning the game was played out in front of rows of empty seats as the rain lashed down in Barcelona. It never stopped the loyal Geordie fans watching on in the soggy conditions as they sat up in the Gods.
But the game was a non-event with Newcastle by then out of the competition and losing on the night 1-0 after a deft chip from Giovanni. Fans didn't know it at the time but the evening would go on to prove to be a significant one in many ways in terms of player development.
For it was at the Nou Camp where then boss Kenny Dalglish decided to blood cult hero Aaron Hughes into the side. The Northern Ireland lad was just 18 when he stepped on to the famous turf for his debut in the Champions League.
And while that probably didn't feel like a big deal at the time with Dalglish's team starting to implode, it was the wily Scot's judgement that would pay dividends in years to come.
It was the start of 279 appearances for Newcastle with many nights in the Champions League and in Europe for Hughes to follow. The Magherafelt-born star was on the field five years later for important wins against Juventus, Dinamo Kiev and most famously Feyenoord when Craig Bellamy's last minute winner had Sir Bobby Robson dancing in Rotterdam.
Hughes helped Robson's team finish fourth, third and fifth before his time came to an end under Graeme Souness in one of the worst decisions made at the football club in modern history. The versatile former Northern Ireland captain had been able to play across the back and in midfield when called upon and was the ultimate team player but Souness sold him to Aston Villa in 2005.
Sir Bobby would never have sold Hughes and once said: "Aaron can play anywhere across the back for us. He is such an intelligent defender.
"He's multi-purpose and he's multi-functional. He's adaptable and he is priceless to us."
The respect was mutual between the duo with Hughes saying later in his career: "He was fantastic and I really wish I had spent more time picking his brains and asking him more questions.
"It is one of the biggest things I regret. Not really appreciating the experience and the players he had worked with and the things he had done.
"Obviously I knew them and I knew who he was and what he had done but everything was the present at Newcastle and trying to do my job for him and impress him there and then."
Yet whenever people talk about Hughes' career they will go back to that rainy night Spain. And Dalglish's decision to throw on a kid to gain much needed experience.
Hughes, speaking to NUFC TV, said: "It was more so the surrealness of the stadium being half empty and it was a weird sort of atmosphere. "Then you had all the Newcastle fans stuck way up in the rafters.
"For some reason, I can't remember bits of the game at all but I remember is that scene if you like. That's the one thing that stands out.
"Darren Peacock had gone off in the first half and Philippe then came off at half time for me to go on. "It was five minutes to go before the restart and Kenny (Dalglish) at the time looked around and went 'get your gear on, we'll throw you on'.
"I didn't have time to think about it. "I remember walking out of the tunnel up onto the pitch to get out there for the second half. "It was literally a couple of seconds and I have this image in my head of the Barcelona tunnel and making sure my shin pads were tucked down my socks properly!"
If ever there was a lesson on flooding youngsters in Europe for Newcastle, the Hughes story is it. That night many may have wondered what might have been in terms of the occasion but the education for Hughes was simply priceless.
