Barcelona’s return to Camp Nou will be postponed, and it’s likely the Catalan club will be unable to play the match against Valencia there on September 14.
Barcelona had obtained an exemption from La Liga to play its first three away matches, returning to Camp Nou starting with the match against Valencia on Matchday 4.
However, Camp Nou still needs a lot of work to become fit for play, and Barcelona has so far failed to obtain the necessary permits.
Mundo Deportivo revealed that Barcelona’s management tried to persuade La Liga to play the match against Valencia at Mestalla, the home of the Bats, but the league rejected the request, considering it would undermine the fairness of the competition, given that Barça would open the second half with four consecutive home matches.
Barcelona now had to find a stadium in Catalonia for the match. The initial idea was to hold it at the Montjuïc Stadium, but the stadium management rejected this option due to a concert scheduled for the same day.
At the moment, the preferred option for Barcelona’s management is to hold the match at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, which has a capacity of only 6,000 spectators.
A La Liga committee visited the stadium to assess its capacity to host a league match and informed Barcelona of some of the missing features, most notably the necessary VAR equipment, which alone would cost €60,000 to €70,000.
Joan Laporta’s administration is working on preparing the Johan Cruyff Stadium and is hoping for a solution to the Camp Nou situation. However, the club will need three weeks to meet the missing license requirements, making hosting the Valencia match there almost impossible.
Barcelona also approached UEFA about holding their first Champions League match away from home, and the European body reportedly agreed but stipulated that Camp Nou would later have to accommodate 45,000 spectators to host the team’s other matches there.
