UEFA have announced their decision to allow FC Barcelona to participate in the 2023-24 Champions League. The club, despite finishing as the La Liga champions in 2022-23, saw their place in the European cup competition in jeopardy because of the Negreira case.
Barca were accused of paying a hefty sum of money to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, vice president of the refereeing committee, in the last decade and were involved in legal proceedings as a result. That meant their participation in this season's Champions League was in doubt.
UEFA, though, have now released a statement, confirming that the Blaugrana are allowed to compete in the tournament. The statement read (via UEFA's website):
Barca are five-time winners of the competition, with their latest triumph coming during the 2014-15 season. Following back-to-back group-stage exits in the last two seasons, they will hope to fare better this time.
Arsenal managed a 5-3 win against Barcelona in their pre-season friendly in the United States on Wednesday (July 26) in what was a back-and-forth contest. The game marked Barca's first pre-season game ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Despite the game being a friendly, the two top European teams played out a really intense game. Barca boss Xavi pointed that fact out (via Barca Universal):
Mikel Arteta hit back at Xavi's comments:
Barcelona and Arsenal will compete in the UEFA Champions League next season, so the intensity of their showdown shouldn't come as a surprise.
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