TURIN. New anti-Covid restrictions in Catalonia will force Barcelona to play behind closed doors the challenge of the Joan Gamper Trophy against Juventus, presented last week by the club as the match that on Sunday 8 August would have marked the return of the public to the Camp Nou after seventeen months. albeit at 20% of capacity, up to 19,869 spectators. The reverse was imposed on the club by the Generalities of Catalonia, whose Health Department has changed the criteria, as anticipated by Catalunya Radio, while in the region the admissions for Covid in hospitals are increasing.
At this point, Barcelona would be considering the hypothesis of staging the two matches (against Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus and against the first women’s team) in the smaller Johan Cruyff stadium, home to the Blaugrana youth teams, a decidedly cheaper solution than to the organization of the event at Camp Nou. Another problem will be the tickets, which have already been on sale for a week. In general, Mundo Deportivo points out, the Joan Gamper Trophy generates about 6 million euros in revenues, which would have been reduced to about one and a half million with limited admissions.