Barça Lose Tangier, Flick Finds Basel
FC Barcelona have officially confirmed a friendly against FC Basel at St. Jakob-Park on August 16, with kick-off scheduled for 4:30 pm CEST. It replaces the cancelled game in Tangier that was due to take place one day earlier. Barça have changed the opponent, the date and the continent in one move. Pre-season planning remains very much a live document.
Basel’s announcement provided the best detail. The Swiss club said the fixture was arranged at Hansi Flick’s express request, which the Barça coach personally made to Basel chairman David Degen. When the schedule refused to fix itself, Flick apparently decided to take over that department too.
Basel will play FC Courtételle in the Swiss Cup on August 15 before hosting Barcelona the following afternoon. They have effectively squeezed the five-time European champions between a competitive match and recovery day. Barça will then face Al-Ahly in the Gamper Trophy on August 19. Efficient emergency work, certainly — although finding an opponent eight days before kick-off says plenty about how smoothly the original plan went.
