Barcelona ‘forced to scrap pre-season friendly’ against EFL side just a day before game

Barcelona’s scheduled friendly against Preston North End has been scrapped just a day before it was due to take place.

The Spanish giants, who took on Birmingham City last week, were set to face Championship side Preston on Monday.

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But the behind-closed-doors match will no longer be going ahead, as Barca have pulled out of the game due to a bizarre reason.

According to Spanish outlet Sport, they have cancelled the fixture as Preston did not have enough available first-team players.

The Lilywhites are said to have offered to field an U21 outfit instead, but Barca refused and opted to scrap the game entirely.

Preston are reported to have not wanted to risk any of their key players in the friendly with the season starting next week.

They take on Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup on August 8.

Barcelona would have been taking on the EFL club at St George’s Park, with kick-off set for Monday morning.

But instead, they’re going to have a training session.

And Hansi Flick‘s side are also said to now be flying back to Spain earlier than scheduled due to the cancellation.

Barcelona’s pre-season so far

Flick and his squad have been in England for their season preparations, coming up against Birmingham on Friday.

Barca were beaten 3-2 on penalties by Chris Davies’ Blues after a 2-2 draw in normal time at St. Andrews.

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Real Madrid and England superstar Jude Bellingham watched on from the stands as his club rivals lost.

Their only other pre-season clash so far came against lower-league Spanish side Europa, beating them 4-1.

Next up for the reigning La Liga champions will be Nottingham Forest on August 8, while another XI take on Udinese on the same day and they then face Al Ahli on August 19.

Preston focusing on season opener

As for Preston, they are clearly putting all of their focus on their first competitive game of the season next week.

Rather than using first-team players against Barcelona, they wanted to keep their key stars fit for the campaign.

Paul Heckingbottom’s men take on Huddersfield in the first round of the Carabao Cup on August 8 at 3pm.

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They then start the Championship season with a trip to newly-promoted Bolton a week later on August 15.

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