Barcelona friendly against Preston North End cancelled – here’s why

Barcelona friendly against Preston North End cancelled – here’s why Barcelona were supposed to wrap up their pre-season tour to England with a friendly against Preston North End on Monday. It was going to be an exciting matchup that would have allowed Hansi Flick to take a closer look at his current set of players on a foreign soil. However, in a major development, the Barcelona – Preston friendly has been cancelled and Barcelona will no longer play any friendly in England. Why did the friendly get cancelled? Barcelona’s England tour will come to an end without the Preston friendly. (Picture credit: X/@FCBarcelona) According to Diario SPORT, the match fell through because Preston North End did not have enough first-team players available. The English side reportedly proposed playing the fixture with their U21 team, an offer Barcelona declined. The Catalans preferred to carry out a normal training session instead, and consider the match cancelled altogether. From Preston’s perspective, one of the key factors was a cup clash against Huddersfield Town next week, with the club unwilling to risk their players ahead of a competitive fixture. As a result, the game scheduled for Monday morning at St George’s Park will not take place. With no match to play, Barcelona will hold a training session in its place and have brought forward their return to Barcelona, taking an earlier flight home than originally planned. It means the Catalans will end their pre-season with five friendlies rather than the six that were initially arranged, having already faced Europa and Birmingham on this tour. What’s next for Barcelona? Barcelona will face Udinese next. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images) Attention now turns to the rest of Barcelona’s pre-season programme as they continue building towards the new campaign. Their next outing will be the triangular tournament on August 8, where they will face Udinese and Nottingham Forest, playing 45 minutes against each side. The inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup will be held at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine. After that comes one of the most anticipated moments of the summer, the Joan Gamper Trophy against Egyptian side Al-Ahly. Scheduled for August 19 at the Spotify Camp Nou, the fixture will serve as the team’s traditional presentation to their fans, as well as Flick’s final test before the competitive season gets underway.