Why is Barcelona vs Juventus match cancelled?

The club said a “significant part of the (Barcelona) squad has a viral gastroenteritis.” The game was supposed to kick off the Spanish champion’s preseason. Xavi Hernandez’s team also has preseason games against Arsenal in Los Angeles on Wednesday, against Real Madrid in Dallas on July 29, and against AC Milan in Las Vegas on August 1.

???? FC Barcelona hereby informs that the game against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 7:30 PM at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been canceled. A significant part of the blaugrana squad has a viral gastroenteritis. pic.twitter.com/vnpmhFFucX

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 22, 2023

“FC Barcelona hereby informs that the game against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 7:30 pm local time (7.30 am Sunday IST) at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been canceled. A significant part of the Blaugrana squad has a viral gastroenteritis,” wrote the club in its statement.

However, as per senior journalist Victor Malo said the official reason of viral gastroenteritis is just a cover-up and has wrote on his official Twitter handle that the side could be down with some other virus as one of the players visited Africa recently on vacation and didn’t had all the necessary vaccinations to visit the unnamed country.

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta also released a video statement on the official Twitter handle, confirming the match is cancelled and hoping that the players will recover as quickly as possible. He further confirmed that the match won’t be rescheduled as there is no space left in the calendar to play the match this preseason but something could be planned later to compensate.

❝It’s a tough blow. I hope the players recover soon.❞

FC Barcelona president, @JoanLaportaFCB discusses the cancellation of Saturday’s game against Juventus in Santa Clara pic.twitter.com/KkmDWOawQj

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 22, 2023