Sports Burst – Barcelona’s Embattled Board
Barcelona board face fan wrath while Neymar Senior reveals all.
By Tim Stannard
1) Barcelona board hold meeting to explain Sunday’s Camp Nou chaos
It’s been a rough 24-hours for everyone involved with Barcelona football club. And for once, Neymar is not the cause.
Instead, the decision to play Barcelona’s La Liga clash with Las Palmas behind closed doors on Sunday due to the violence and disorder surrounding a referendum in Cataluyna continues to have repercussions. Barca officials called for the game to be postponed, that request was subsequently denied by La Liga and the Spanish federation forcing the match to take place with the crowd locked out, lest the Barca forfeit the game and even be docked a further three points. Gerard Pique amongst others in the locker room were opposed to the playing of the game and a club VP reportedly resigned over the decision.
An extraordinary meeting of the club’s board of directors is due to take place on Monday with a press conference to be held after where much of the topic will revolve around the confused timeline of the day and the factors involved in making the decision to play the game without spectators. Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the latest news from the Catalan capital.
2) Neymar looked for fear factor says father
A day would not be a…day…without Neymar coming into the equation in some form of another.
This time around it is the footballer’s ever-so-reticent father who was speaking about all things Ney and the move from Barcelona last summer. “It was a surprise for me as well,” admitted Neymar Snr who revealed that his son wanted to move away from a Barcelona comfort zone. “He wanted to put himself in danger, take a bit of a risk.”
And as for the supposed Cavani v Neymar PSG penalty push-fest? “It’s all been exaggerated,” soothed Big Neymar, “everything is fine between them. Remember that Neymar the Brazilian will be in action live on beIN SPORTS in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers on Thursday from 3:50PM ET / 12:50PM PT as Brazil take on Bolivia.
3) Italy down to bare bones in key international week
The Monday before the international week is traditionally all about players withdrawing from their squads due to injury. And as most of the final places for the 2018 World Cup are being decided, there is quite the issue for some countries.
Spain have seen Andres Iniesta, Alvaro Morata and Dani Carvajal unable to participate. Italy’s Andrea Belotti is out of action due to a ligament injury. But there was further bad news for Italy who are battling Spain for a qualification spot with Daniele De Rossi reportedly leaving the camp due to a knee injury. Oh…and Marco Verratti won’t be there either. Happy times!
4) Muguruza retires as Sloane Stephens continues post Grand Slam slump
The Spaniard was unable to continue her match against Barbora Strycova, saying she has picked up a virus from a previous tournament. Bad news as well for Sloane Stephens who was knocked out by fellow American, Christina McHale, a second first-round exit since the American’s US Open triumph.
Extensive coverage continues live on beIN SPORTS from 12:30PM ET / 9:30PM PT every day through to the following morning and across our CONNECT service.
WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?
The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time