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BUYING prezzies for blokes is one of life’s great challenges.

But I was determined not to go down the socks and aftershave path for my boyfriend Vik.

After a search online, I stumbled across footballbreak.co.uk, a company that organises match breaks to many European cities. Ideal for my football-mad man.

There are various price points and add-ons, but for flights, tickets to the game and a hotel, you’re looking at about £179 per person.

I went for Barcelona because I knew Vik would love to see Lionel Messi, above, play for Barca against Villarreal.

A weekend in Barcelona didn’t sound too bad to this reluctant sports fan either.

We flew first thing on Saturday morning, so we could squeeze in two full tapas-fuelled days before the Sunday evening match and stayed at the BCN Urban Gran Rosellon, five minutes’ walk from a Metro Station and Passeig de Gràcia street. Gaudi’s cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, below, is a few miles away, and we made the most of the sun. No trip to Barcelona is complete without half a dozen plates of tapas. So we hopped around a few tapas bars in the Gothic Quarter.

Sunday was game day and Vik was keen to check out the ground’s museum. We got our hotdogs and beers, found our seats and the atmosphere was crackling.

Vik was chuffed at being close to the pitch as we could see the concentration on the players’ faces.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Vik loved it and with a 2-0 win for Barca, this gift really hit the mark.

Another early flight had us at our desks for Monday morning after a break that was in a different league.