On 25th March, the side which Gerard Lopez, the ex-Barca player, manages, will meet Venezuela, but the coach will have to alter his plans due to the absence of various players which he had already called up. All the players selected showed their support for the Catalan national team, but now various clubs have showen their rejection and have prevented their footballers from leaving their clubs during the international break: Villarreal, Rayo Vallecano, Real Valladolid, Huesca...

It will be the first time the Catalan national team plays at the same time as an official international break, but the difference is that Catalonia does not belong to FIFA so FIFA do not have the power to force the clubs to release their footballers as occurs with the majority of the national teams.

As there is not so much protection, the teams mentioned previously have preferred to put their own interests first as the business end of the season both in the League and in Europe is approaching. The clubs would rather be safe than sorry because they do not want one of their players to get injured in the game.

March 19, 2019

Therefore, Masip, Alcaraz, Sergio Gonzalez - as co-manager-, Alex Moreno, Alberto Garcia, Gallar and Enric Gallego are the players missing for the Catalan outfit after their clubs refused to let them play in the fixture. "Sporting interests and the calendar" was the reason given in letters sent to the Catalan Federation. In the same tone, Real Betis reached an agreement with the Federation to allow Bartra to go, but not Tello so that he could rest and not pick up a recurrance of a knock he has had.

To avoid that these decisions become politicised due to the current situation in Catalonia, the coach Gerard Lopez said the following on radio programme 'El Transistor': "We have the permision of the Federation, but we accept the decision of the clubs. The boys wanted to come, as you would expect, every team will have their reasons. The timing of it does annoy me because of all the work we are doing, if it had been earlier, it would have helped me a lot. In the end, everything becomes politicised and we don't want that."

The manager also referred to the politicial demonstration that the Catalan government made when presenting the clash, assuring that the players will not be playing to support Catalonia in the political conflict. "What happens in the stands will be seen later. We are a country that expresses itself freely and peacefully. There will not be a political demonstration from either Gerard Lopez or the players, he made clear.

One of those who will be play is Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, who is never shy of giving his opinion and has always demanded the right to decide. The defender assured that it makes him happy to put on the Catalan shirt, a side that is missing various players for the clash in five days and for which Gerard Lopez has had to make numerous changes.

The list of players, pending the substitutes for Gerard and Enric Gallego is:

Goalkeepers: Edgar Badía (Elche) and Isaac Becerra (Nàstic Tarragona)

Defenders: Gerard Piqué (Barça), Marc Muniesa (Girona), Marc Bartra (Betis), Dídac Vilà (Espanyol), Martín Montoya (Brighton), Marc Cucurella (Eibar) and Aleix Vidal (Sevilla).

Midfielders: Víctor Sánchez (RCD Espanyol), Óscar Melendo (Espanyol), Joan Jordán (Eibar), Oriol Romeu (Southampton), Xavi Hernández (Al-Sadd), Pere Pons (Girona), Aleix Garcia (Girona) and Àlex Granell (Girona).

Strikers: Sergio García (Espanyol), Bojan Krkic (Stoke City) and Marc Cardona (Eibar).

Álex Gallar

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