Juan Laporta, the Barcelona president, held meetings with senior officials at Turkish firm Limak, the company handling the renovation of the Spotify Camp Nou, hoping to clear up their disagreements and speed the project towards the best possible finish.
According to the Spanish newspaper "Sport", Laporta used his trip to Istanbul for Barcelona's Champions League tie, where Hansi Flick's side romped to another comfortable win and kept their perfect record intact this season, to sit down with senior figures at Limak Holding.
Radio station "RAC 1" report that the Barcelona president and several of his board members held a string of meetings with Ebru Ozdemir, chairwoman and chief executive of the Turkish company, plus other directors of the firm charged with redeveloping the Spotify Camp Nou. The aim: settle the disputes, pool their efforts and get the work done properly and fast.
Relations between the two parties were warm, according to the same source.
The Barcelona and Limak delegations also shared an official dinner and sat together in the main box at the Ali Sami Yen stadium for the second round of the Champions League league phase.
Those talks were friendly throughout. Both sides agreed to shelve their differences, pool resources and pull in the same direction to get the project finished.
A shared interest
Barcelona and Limak want the same thing for obvious reasons: the "Spotify Camp Nou" redevelopment finished as quickly as possible. That makes throwing everything at the task the priority above all else.
Once the stadium is fully fitted out, roof included, there will be plenty of time to pick over how the renovation actually went. Each party will then defend its own corner.
"RAC 1" confirmed that nobody can yet rule out the row over penalty clauses for delays ending up in court, a possibility Laporta hinted at during Barcelona's last assembly of voting members.
That subject never came up in Turkey this week. The absolute priority right now is letting Barcelona's fans finally enjoy their stadium, with every stand open to supporters at 100%.
Barcelona have no plans to open the third tier of the Spotify Camp Nou to fans before the roof goes on. They will, though, try to open some of the VIP boxes between the end of this year and the start of 2027, in the area between the second and third tiers, bringing the club extra revenue.