Akeem Lasisi
It does not matter whether you say ‘Barcelona’ or ‘Barca’. The question is: should you use the singular or plural verb with it?
Normally, since we are talking about a single club, we are supposed to go for the singular. The way we say a school has opened or a bank has closed, we are supposed to say a club like Barca or Arsenal has won.
However, football clubs/teams are considered plural, especially by sportswriters. This is understandable in the sense that they are considered as collective nouns, being names of groups of people or things. As a result, sports teams usually take plural verbs. This is particularly the tradition in British English.
So, instead of saying Barca, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Rangers, or Remo Stars is playing tomorrow, we say and write:
Barca are playing tomorrow.
Arsenal are playing tomorrow.
Real Madrid are playing tomorrow.
Chelsea are playing tomorrow.
Remo Stars or 3SC or Napoli are playing tomorrow.
EXERCISE
Fill the gap:
… Bayern ever won the Champions League?
A. Were B. Has C. Have D. Are
