Xavi misses start of Barcelona’s pre-season tour
The coach did not fly out with the team
Barcelona coach Xavi will miss the start of the team’s pre-season tour of the United States due to a few administrative issues.
The team flew out to Miami on Saturday afternoon but were without their coach who has been forced to stay behind for a day or two.
Boarding time pic.twitter.com/6DtQqzHfBq
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 16, 2022
Barcelona later confirmed the news in a brief statement:
“Coach Xavi Hernández will not be taking today’s flight for administrative reasons associated to his passport reasons. He is expected to join the rest of the squad in Miami in the next few days.”
Reports reckon the problem is that Xavi visited Iran several times as a player with Al Sadd which means he requires special permission to enter the United States.
Barcelona had thought the issue was all sorted but it seems that’s not quite the case, although it’s expected Xavi will fly out early next week.
Ready? pic.twitter.com/BDCzyE5W94
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 16, 2022
Also flying out to meet the squad will be Robert Lewandowski after Barcelona agreed a deal with Bayern Munich for the striker.
Lewandowski has already admitted he’s off to meet up with his new team and will then head back to Germany to say a proper goodbye to Bayern.
“These 8 years were special, you don’t forget that. I had a great time in Munich. I’m going to fly soon, but after the training camp, I will be back to say goodbye properly and organize a few things,” he said.
“I said goodbye to the guys on the pitch today. I wasn’t worried about an injury in training. Something like that can happen even at home. I wanted to keep fit and train with the guys again.”
Barcelona’s first game is against Inter Miami on Tuesday. It’s been reported that Barca are hoping Lewandowski can make his debut in the friendly with Real Madrid on July 23.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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