Through an official statement, FC Barcelona have confirmed that their friendly against Juventus on Saturday evening has been suspended.
“FC Barcelona hereby informs that the game against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 7:30 PM at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been canceled,” the club tweeted at around 7:00 PM back home in Catalonia.
“A significant part of the Blaugrana squad has viral gastroenteritis,” they added.
The news will come as a blow to local fans in California and elsewhere that had tickets to see the La Liga champions up close in the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Furthermore, Culers worldwide that planned to watch the game on television and see Barca’s new signings in action will be disappointed as well.
As of yet, it is currently unclear whether the fixture will be rescheduled and could go ahead in the next couple of days.
That might seem unlikely at face value, with Barca on a tight schedule that sees them planning to play a total of four – now three – friendlies in 11-day period.
Yet Barca won’t travel that far for their next game relatively speaking when compared to the vast distances between American cities often seen on such tours.
On Wednesday, they will take on Premier
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Fitting both games wouldn’t be possible if were talking about the distance between LA and where Barca’s third friendly in the US takes place.
Next Saturday night, Xavi Hernandez’s men meet bitter rivals Real Madrid in another Stateside edition of El Clasico at Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, Texas over 1,400 miles to the east.
After this, Barca head north for a showdown with AC Milan that finishes the tour on August 1.