Aurelio de Laurentiis, film producer and chairman of the SSC Napoli, is fuming. “We hear from Spain about confusion and fear, but Uefa is not interested in any of this.” Reason for the protest: The Italians have to play the second leg of the second leg in the Champions League this Saturday evening against FC Barcelona in the Catalan capital (9 pm in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and at DAZN); the first leg ended 1: 1.
Your president would have preferred to play in Germany. The entire region of Catalonia is one of the hotspots of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain. However, a request from the European Football Union (Uefa) to the regional Ministry of Health revealed that the game in Barcelona posed no health risks for the players. The association decided that Saturday will be played in front of empty stands in the Camp Nou Stadium.
The concern of Italians about infection in Spain is understandable. The number of daily new infections with the coronavirus has been increasing rapidly across the country since July, from around 60 new infections in one day to more than 1,600 most recently. The authorities are heavily criticized for neglecting preventive measures, which means that the infections are out again Control should be advised. Catalonia and Barcelona have been hotspots for weeks. The region has recently recorded over 150 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks. This is one of the highest levels in what is known as the 14-day incidence across the country. In Italy there are only 6.2 cases per 100,000 population in the past two weeks.
Isolated football professionals
However, the situation on the streets cannot be transferred to professional football. The professionals in Spain live completely isolated from the rest of the world, isolated from the worries in the city. The Spaniards call it “football in the bubble”, with numerous tests for the virus, as in the Bundesliga. So Spain was able to end the league on July 19 – Real Madrid became champions. In mid-June, after the long break in play due to the pandemic, hardly anyone thought that was possible.
FC Barcelona came back from the forced break in June with five players and coaches who tested positive. But the cases were isolated and the squad is now healthy. During the short vacation after the end of the league and the resumption of training at the beginning of the month, no player was infected. All have been tested, and in the empty stadium and at the video-only press conferences, the players will not be infected by spectators or journalists.
Coach Quique Setién can access almost the entire squad. Only the former Dortmund Ousmane Dembélé is unlikely to sit on the bench or in the stadium at all. He was only able to train again this week after four muscle injuries this season. Allegedly, Barça is looking for a new club for him, also to have money free for reinforcements. Antoine Griezmann, however, will be back in the squad after suffering a thigh injury.
Not a good season for Barca
Although he has the full potential of the line-up, coach Setién does not seem happy. The season did not go well, Barça lost nine points in the league after the Corona break and thus lost the championship to Real. The coach was criticized by his own players. After a 2-2 draw in Vigo, Luis Suárez urged Setién to find a solution to Barça’s bad game. Apparently he didn’t find it, because two game days before the end the striker from Uruguay declared that the championship was lost, although anything was still possible, at least mathematically.
And when Barcelona lost to Osasuna on the penultimate matchday at home, Messi thought the team had been playing badly since January. The players would have to criticize themselves, but he also called for a “global criticism” – a tip against the club leadership and the coaching staff. Setién replaced Ernesto Valverde as coach in January. Barça did not play a convincing season under Valverde and had already given up 17 points in the league by January. And there were already discrepancies from the team, especially against the club leadership. But when Valverde left in January, Barça were still leading the table.
Now everyone is hoping for a fresh start in the Champions League. The coach and the captain met for an emergency meeting. After the 1-1 draw in the first leg in Naples, FC Barcelona have a good chance of progressing, and long-term runner Ivan Rakitic said shortly before the game that a victory in the Champions League would also be possible, the season would then be saved. Messi also speaks of four games in which the team could cause a sensation. Nevertheless, he didn’t sound optimistic in the end: “We can’t go on like this. This competition starts from scratch and we have a lot of things to change. “
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