The title refers to the driving inspiration for his book, Palmeiras, which Barneschi has been following for over 30 years and for this account, covers his time at away grounds across Brazil and South America following the club.
The self-confessed "ground-hopper" tells Tribalfootball.com: “As we speak, I am on 1192 live games in 91 stadiums. I always visit a stadium when I go to a city even though there is no game on. If I go to Paris, London, Rome, I want to see the stadiums to know the environment.
"I believe that we can understand the city and the people a little better when we go to a football stadium. It is as important as going to the Colosseum or to the Eiffel Tower or any other important venues in the city. It is something that really makes me feel happy when I arrive to a new stadium.
"This is the place in which thousands of people go every single weekend to be together, to cheer for their teams. So, I really love stadiums.”
Clashes on the pitch
However, as enjoyable visiting new stadia can be, Barneschi admits being an away fan - particularly across South America - can be risky.
“Here in Brazil and in South America in general, you have to understand that police are not there to protect us. The police have a very aggressive behaviour when it comes to supporters. Especially away supporters. We have to be ready to protect ourselves from the police. They are there to put us in our away sector, but they don't want the supporters to be there at all.
“So, the treatment that the policemen usually give away supporters is really, really hard. And we have to be aware of this. We have to be ready to run to protect ourselves in physical terms. I'm not a violent person, but I know that sometimes I have to be ready. The home supporters are our enemies in a certain way, but the policemen are there to make us feel uncomfortable."
Barneschi recalls several moments in 'Outsiders', which had him concerned.
“Especially the game away against Peñarol I describe in chapter 25. Their supporters are a little mad and we had a clash on the pitch and this clash went up in to the terraces as well. We were about 2000 supporters on our side against 40.000 home supporters that wanted to kill us. There were no policemen in the stadium, so we had to protect ourselves and we avoided a tragedy. Luckily. It is strange to talk about this smiling, but it is an experience that I will remember for my entire life.”
Going undercover
Barneschi also reveals he wasn't always in the away end following Palmeiras. Instead, he'd gone 'undercover' to be with the home support.
“I like to understand my enemy. I like to understand my rivals and the way they behave. When I was a teenager, I started going to all of Palmeiras’ games. Someday I thought, what if I go to my rival’s games to see how they behave? Just to look as an outsider.
"This is a way for me to connect myself with other people and other cultures. Every time an Argentinian torcida comes to Sao Paulo, I like to be there and look. What are the similarities and differences between them and my torcida? like to see the other side and I think I am a better person for knowing the other side.”
Barneschi admits his approach to "Outsiders" has struck a chord with fans across Brazil, leaving him particularly proud at breaking the apathy of local supporters towards football books.
He explains, “The media here in Brazil are not really interested in football books. In fact, in Brazil, people don't read a lot of books. The book was a success here in Brazil among supporters, and not only Palmeiras supporters, which is really important to me. Supporters of Corinthians, São Paulo, Flamengo all say they identified with the book. My story is connected to the stories of rivals and people that go to stadiums.”
Winning the Copa three times
Beyond his favourite stadiums, "Centenario Montevideo, the Azteca and Olimpico of Rome", Barneschi says experiencing multiple Copa Libertadores triumphs with Palmeiras never gets old.
“The three Copa Libertadores that we’ve won," says Barneschi, when asked for his best moments in football.
"The first one, in 1999, in our own former stadium, we won it in a penalty shootout. The second one we won at the Maracanã. It was during the pandemics and the authorities decided to only have a small number of people going to the ground.
"I was lucky enough to be one of them. The third one was in Montevideo against Flamengo. We won that game on the pitch and in the terraces even though we were outnumbered.
"We sang much more than the Flamengo supporters and we transmitted this strength to our players. It was one of the happiest days of my life.”
- 'Outsiders: A Football Fanatic’s South American Odyssey' is available now through Pitch Publishing