Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez was unable to travel with his squad to the United States to begin their pre-season tour on Saturday(July 16).
The Blaugrana jetted off to the United States to begin a 17-day tour that will include multiple training sessions and pre-season friendly matches, but their boss was unable to join them due to a delay in documentation.
Xavi is said to have visited Iran three times in the last five years as a result of his former association with Qatari club Al Sadd as both a player and a coach, which required him to provide additional documentation to US authorities to justify his reasons for so many visits to the Middle Eastern country – due to its relations with the US.
The necessary paperwork was supposed to arrive on Friday, but there was a delay, so the Catalan giants’ coach will now have to wait until Monday to join his squad in the United States while he awaits an update.
The 42-year-old had traveled to the Barcelona airport with his players in the expectation of being a part of the journey because the club believed they had fixed the relevant bureaucratic requirement, but the trip was denied and he was forced to remain in Catalonia.
