Barcelona has announced that the club is to start charging under-sevens to watch matches at Camp Nou because of Spanish safety laws.

The Spanish champions have previously allowed youngsters free entry into their home games, but will introduce charges from October 26, when the Catalan side host Real Madrid.

President Sandro Rosell told Catalunya Radio: "I am the first who is against the decision that I have taken from a popular point of view, but I had to take it due to the responsibility I have.

"I prefer a headline that says 'Rosell does not let the kids in' than one that says 'Rosell has killed a kid'. That is clear. It is one of those rules you are not necessarily in favour of, but it is the law.

"The security experts alerted us to the fact that at a Barca-Real Madrid game, instead of 15,000 children, 40,000 children could come. It is not really a problem of the law but of security, any incident could provoke a stampede and there could be deaths. We do not want to run that risk."

Barcelona have a 100% record in La Liga so far this season.