After almost four hours in the air, the FC Barcelona first team have arrived in Cyprus for Tuesday’s Champions League second leg match with APOEL, having lost 1-0 to the Spanish giants on September 17.
The flight from El Prat Airport touched down in Larnaca at around 1pm. The plane parked at the VIP Lounge of the Old Terminal with Cyprus Police deploying stringent security for the delegation of 230 people.
The 22 players named by Luis Enrique, including Lionel Messi, were then transferred to Nicosia, where they checked in at the Hilton Cyprus and prepared for their warm-up at GSP stadium.
The travelling party is being led by club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who’s joined by vice-president Javier Faus directors Silvio Elías, Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca and Pau Vilanova, and director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta. They will be received by Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday morning.
Luis Enrique and Ivan Rakitic will be giving a press conference at 5.15pm, and then at 6pm the players will train in the same stadium that will be holding the game on Tuesday evening at 8.45pm.
Discussing last Saturday’s 5-1 win against Sevilla, Director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta said that “it was a very demanding opponent. Emery’s team always work hard on tactics but we played well in attack and especially well in defence, creating pressure high up the pitch. We played well in that less visible area and reacted well to their equaliser.”
Asked about Thomas Vermaelen not being named to the squad, he commented that “during the international break he had ten good days and was happy, but on Sunday he had some trouble and we decided it would better if he didn’t travel.”
And on the subject of being jeered during the video to congratulate Messi in the stadium, Zubizarreta said that “one has to be modest and accept criticism.”
Some 350 Barca fans will be there to cheer their Catalans, with many more from Cyprus, the Middle East and nearby countries travelling for this occasion to get a glimpse of their favourite football giants, the biggest team to play on Cyprus soil since APOEL hosted Real Madrid in March 2012 and lost 0-3.
