Pre-season CHAOS for Barcelona as Hansi Flick's side forced to scrap friendly against Championship side

Barcelona’s summer tour of England has been thrown into disarray after their upcoming match against Preston North End was scrapped just a day before kick-off. The Catalan side had been preparing for the encounter at St George’s Park, following their recent trip to the Midlands to face Birmingham City. However, according to Diario SPORT, the Championship club informed the La Liga champions that they would be unable to field a full team due to injuries.

Following a physical encounter in a friendly defeat to Stockport County, the Lancashire club found their squad down to the bare bones. Rather than risk further injuries to senior stars with the new season looming, the EFL side reportedly offered to field an U-21 team instead.

Barcelona were uninterested in facing a developmental side, however, with Flick keen for his players to gain experience against senior professionals. The German head coach is looking for high-intensity minutes to implement his tactical ideas, and a match against youth prospects was deemed insufficient for the squad's needs. Consequently, the reigning La Liga champions chose to opted to scrap the game entirely in favour of a training session.

The sudden change in schedule means Barcelona are likely to fly back to Spain earlier than originally planned. The squad had been using the English Football Association's national football centre as a base, but without the Preston fixture, the coaching staff have decided to relocate their final preparations.

This scheduling setback follows a testing outing for Barcelona against Birmingham City at St. Andrew's. The Blaugrana played out a 2-2 draw before eventually falling 3-2 in a penalty shootout. Flick used the occasion to hand a debut to Karim Adeyemi, though the German coach offered a blunt assessment of the former Borussia Dortmund winger's first appearance in a Blaugrana shirt.

Despite the loss on penalties, the manager took several positives from the friendly, remaining optimistic about his squad's overall effort.

"I think we played well, Birmingham have a strong team and we have a young team." Flick remarked. "Maybe in some situation there was a lack of confidence with the ball, playing more between the lines. We also made some mistakes in our build-up play. But overall, I'm happy."

Barcelona still have several friendlies lined up, including a clash against Nottingham Forest on August 8. On the same day, a separate Barca XI is scheduled to take on Italian side Udinese, highlighting the depth Flick is trying to build within his squad.

Flick remains optimistic about his squad's trajectory, despite missing several key stars who were part of Spain's successful World Cup campaign. Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, and Gavi are among those still enjoying an extended break. "I focus on the team I have now and the players I have now. I don’t dream; I am here," Flick concluded. "What I see is that we have a lot of quality, including with the young players."