In the early hours of Sunday morning, Barcelona were supposed to have gotten their pre-season friendly schedule underway against Juventus. However, an outbreak of viral gastroenteritis within Xavi Hernandez’s squad meant that the match had to be cancelled.
Several members came down with the virus, which forced Barcelona to postpone the event, much to the despair of the thousands of fans that would have been in attendance.
Barcelona will be disappointed that they were unable to take part, but there would have been very little they could do about the situation. However, it meant that they missed out being paid €2m as part of their involvement in the match against Juventus, as reported by MD.
Looking ahead, Barcelona are projected to take on Arsenal in their second (now first) pre-season friendly, and the club have announced that they intend to play that match.
Xavi will hope to have his full squad available to him for that fixture, and especially so for Saturday’s El Clasico showdown against Real Madrid, which will be the real money-spinner of Barcelona’s tour of the United States.
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