Xavi Hernández, during the first pre-season match of Barcelona EFE
Soccer
Preseason
Bureaucratic problems prevent the Barcelona coach from traveling with the squad to carry out the American tour
16/07/2022
Updated at 21:31
Xavi Hernández has not been able to undergo the plane along with the rest of the expedition that begins the American tour and that has its first destination in Miami after the United States has vetoed its entry into the country. A problem that is substantial and that Barcelona has reported. According to the club, the footballer will travel the next few days when the incident is resolved due to "administrative and passport problems". In addition, the Barça club has run into the inconvenience that this trip was planned at the end of the week, days in which the embassies are usually closed and they cannot wait for bureaucratic procedures.
It must be taken into account that during his time as a player in Qatar, as a footballer for A-Sadd, Xavi Hernández was in Iran three times (his last game as an active player was played in Tehran) and in the United States he needs special permission to enter the country. Although everything was in order, last Friday, those in charge of Barça realized that the coach had not passed the requested travel permit, the ESTA. Too late, which forced Xavi to stay on land and travel to Miami as soon as everything is resolved, this Monday, initially. Although the club believed that they had been able to solve the problem, when they arrived at the airport this Saturday at noon, the computer system did not authorize the departure of the Catalan coach. The rest of the Barcelona coaches have been able to use them because the games that Al-Sadd played in Iran were during his time as a player and not when he was already on the bench, so he is the only one who traveled to the Iranian capital.
From the club there is confidence that Xavi can arrive in time to lead the last training session before facing Inter Miami and that he can sit on the bench. The game was played in the Spanish early hours of Tuesday, at 01:30. The United States is a very strict country with the entry measures to its country and does not discriminate against anyone. The Barça club has experienced a similar situation in 2003 when Patrick Kluivert was forced to return to Spain to land in Boston because he does not have a special visa that will be required to have people who had a criminal record and both the player and the club They were unaware and had not requested it. In 1996, the Dutch striker had been sentenced for providing 200 hours of social services after causing a car accident in which one person died. And the following year he was accused of rape by a 20-year-old girl, although a court finally pronounced him innocent.
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