ABOUT

Messi, Neymar, Maradona, Cryuff – the names of Barcelona’s biggest stars roll off the tongue.

But discover how the glories of this famous football club might not have been possible if not for the exploits of an Irishman named Patrick O’Connell, who saved FC Barcelona from financial ruin in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

Eighty years on, O’Connell is finally receiving the recognition at home that he has long had in Spain. On Friday 12 May a blue plaque honouring was unveiled on Albert Street in Belfast, where he lived when he began his career playing for Belfast Celtic.

BBC Sport required an animation in various formats made from imagery from the Patrick O’Connell Memorial Fund to tell this story. BBC Sport’s Joel Taggart did a fantastic job with the narration.

3D modelling and projection techniques in Maxon Cinema 4D were used. Also parallax and 2.5D animation in Adobe After Effects brought the entire piece to life.