Barcelona's campaign to defend the revamped Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia got off to an inauspicious start as they arrived late for a training session in Jeddah on Wednesday, with a club source saying their bus driver had headed to the wrong location.
The team were due to prepare for Thursday's semi-final against Atletico Madrid at local side Al-Ittihad Club's training ground, but the driver instead took them to the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium where Super Cup matches are taking place.
The two venues are separated by over 30 kilometres and the team's bus finally arrived at the training ground 45 minutes behind schedule, delayed by the coastal city's notorious traffic levels.
Coach Ernesto Valverde and midfielder Sergio Busquets were due to give a news conference before the training session but will now speak to the media afterwards due to their late arrival.
Real Madrid play Valencia on Wednesday in the first game of the competition, which used to be a season curtain raiser but has been turned into a money-spinning event after federation president Luis Rubiales implemented radical changes last year.
Federation members approved expanding the competition's format from two teams to four, switching the date from August to January and transplanting it abroad.
A three-year deal to hold the tournament in Saudi Arabia was announced last November which Spanish media say is worth around 40 million euros ($44 million) annually, angering human rights groups and the four teams' traditional supporter base.
--
Latest Stories
-
Bagbin donates public address system to Ghana Law School
2 mins -
TGMA should create a category for Acapella music – Alabaster Box group
2 mins -
Man nabbed for allegedly posing as Asantehene’s staff to fraud victims
3 mins -
Zoomlion sends 18 youths on landmark sanitation mission to Belarus and Russia
5 mins -
Ghana will move to renewable energy under my presidency – Bawumia
13 mins -
Telecel Ghana CEO calls for multilateral collaboration and investment in digital public infrastructure
18 mins -
Why forgetting is beneficial
25 mins -
UN climate talks in Bonn must push for greater ambition on climate finance – CSE
28 mins -
Petition to remove Kissi Agyebeng defeats fight against corruption – Legal Practitioner
30 mins -
Bright Simons: The ‘strategic mirage’ of Africa’s green minerals wealth
31 mins -
Row erupts over portraits of Australia’s richest woman
35 mins -
Check Rite Foundation equips fisherfolks at Mumford with safety measures
43 mins -
Office of Special Prosecutor effective despite understaffing – Edem Senanu
52 mins -
Minority demands reversal of hiked dialysis treatment cost
2 hours -
AI holds immense potential for Africa’s media industry – Akufo-Addo
2 hours