In a major update, Barcelona have confirmed that their friendly match against Juventus has been cancelled due to a stomach bug that has affected several players in the squad.
“FC Barcelona hereby informs that the match against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 19:30 at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been cancelled. A significant part of the Blaugrana team has viral gastroenteritis,” the club said in a statement.
Barça were scheduled to face Juventus in their first pre-season friendly in the United States later that evening at Levi’s Stadium in California.
Training had been going on for the past few days in the US and everything seemed to be ready for the match which would take place in a few hours.
However, several players in the squad appear to have been affected by a stomach bug which forced the La Liga champions to cancel their friendly against the Bianconeri.
It should be noted that Jules Kounde was struck down with a stomach ulcer on the first day of training in the USA, which led to him missing the training sessions that day.
It is not clear who all in the team and how many players in total suffer from this problem. But Toni Juanmarti reports that there may be around 8-9 stars that are gone with the error.
The Catalans take to the pitch against Arsenal at the SoFi Stadium on Wednesday and hopefully all will be well with the players by then.