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BARCELONA

Xavi denied US visa in time for Barcelona friendly against Inter Miami

Barcelona boss Xavi Hernández has still not been granted a US visa and will now not be on the touchline when his side play Inter Miami.

Javier Miguel
Javier Miguel
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Xavi Hernández
Joan M. BascuDiarioAS

Xavi Hernández will finally not be on ther touchline for the Barcelona friendly against Inter Miami. The Camp Nou coach has been waiting for US Customs to approve his ESTA application to catch a flight to Miami that would have allowed him to arrive on time for the first friendly of the tour. However, as AS has been able to confirm, at noon on Tuesday Xavi had still not received authorization and there are no further flights or connections available today that would allow him to get to Miami in time for the match, which will be played at 20:00 ET.

Xavi expected to be cleared to link up ahead of Madrid game

The maximum waiting time for ESTA approval is 72 hours, so in a worst-case scenario Xavi should be cleared to fly later on Tuesday and be able to catch a direct flight to Miami on Wednesday morning. That would allow him to join up with his squad in time to travel to Las Vegas on Thursday, the second stop on Barça’s US tour, where they will play Real Madrid at the Allegiant Stadium on 23 July.

Until Xavi makes an appearance, the team will be managed by Óscar Hernández, the coach’s brother, who will sit on the bench for the Inter Miami game. Within the club, there is a growing feeling that someone will have to accept responsibility for the situation. Xavi’s visa issues stem from the simple fact that he played in Iran when his former side, Al Sadd, were drawn against opposition from that country in the Asian Champions League. It seems incredible that a club the size of Barcelona did not take this into account sooner and arrange for the necessary paperwork to be provided to the US authorities.

Additionlly, according to some sources, Barça have received scant help from the organizers of the US tour in expediting the situation to speed up the procedure and smooth over the issue with US Customs.