The Camp Nou continues to be a headache for Barcelona. The club had announced with great fanfare that the team would return home on August 10 for the Joan Gamper Trophy, but they have not obtained the necessary licenses and the club has already announced that the match against Cesc Fábregas’ Como will have to be played at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, meaning that fans will have to continue waiting to return to the venue where Joan Laporta has broken so many promises since work began.
It should be remembered that Barcelona has wanted to return to the Camp Nou on several occasions, setting hypothetical dates, but always ending up citing inconveniences with the construction work as the reason why they could not return on those dates. One of the latest was when it was assured that Barça would play the rest of last season at home, but once again, this did not happen and they had to finish the season at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, where they ended up winning LaLiga.
In the last few hours, a video of the current state of the Camp Nou has been leaked by workers who are renovating Barcelona’s stadium. These images show a significant number of unfinished aspects, as loose cables, unfinished walls, rubble on the floor, and scaffolding in areas that are not finished can be seen. Obviously, this content, shared by Ferran Barniol, does not inspire optimism, and many Barça fans are concerned because the Barça stadium does not look like it will be ready for partial opening in the short term.
Money not collected from the Camp Nou
In the agreement signed by Barcelona with the company Limak, there was a clause explaining that the Turkish company would have to pay one million euros for each day of delay in the Camp Nou works. This currently translates into a debt of more than 200 million due to the continuous delays. Laporta said at the time that they were on track and that there would be no penalty, but, as everyone knows, this has not been the case. Despite this, Limak will not pay this financial penalty because Barça does not want to get into trouble now and wants to maintain the agreement they have.
After announcing that the Joan Gamper Trophy will not be played at the Camp Nou, the Barcelona now aims to return to its stadium on September 14 when, after playing the first three games away from home, the Azulgrana team will make its debut in the Catalan capital. Joan Laporta hopes to meet the deadlines this time, but the biggest risk lies with the Champions League, which will begin a few days later. If the venue is not available, the first phase of Europe’s top competition would have to be played entirely away from Camp Nou.
A temporary return to the Camp Nou?
On the other hand, journalist Albert Lesan has surprised everyone with some rather important information. He revealed that the Camp Nou will not have a roof during the first few years, which means that in two years’ time there will be another break to install it, and during that year Barcelona will have to return to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. “This reality is being kept quiet,” he said, making it clear that Blaugrana fans will have to get wet on rainy days and move again to allow the renovation to be completed.