La Liga giants Barcelona have on Sunday been dealt not one, but two heavy blows.
This comes owing to developments in the club’s youth setup.
Barcelona’s reserve outfit, Barca Atlètic, marked their return to action a short time ago, facing off with Córdoba in the 2nd leg of the promotion playoff finale tie between the clubs.
The sides headed into the clash locked at a goal apiece following a tightly-contested first leg in Catalunya a week ago.
And it was the Blaugrana who went on to open the scoring on the night, full-back Héctor Fort continuing to showcase his talents courtesy of a fine goal.
When it mattered most, however, Rafa Márquez’s troops simply couldn’t hold on…
After Córdoba went on to level things up late in the first-half, a calamitous mixup at the back afforded the evening’s hosts a 2nd shortly after the interval.
And this is how things remained through the full-time whistle, meaning Barcelona Atlètic have officially missed out on their latest opportunity to clinch promotion to the 2nd tier of Spanish football.
And yet, as alluded to above, this marks just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Barcelona’s problems this weekend.
Young striker Marc Guiu, for his part, was afforded a starting berth for the Catalans in their playoff showpiece on Sunday night.
The 18-year-old went on to see out 68 minutes of the matchup, before being hooked for Dani Rodríguez.
And, if the latest word stemming from the media is anything to go by, then his minutes on the pitch this evening look set to mark Guiu’s last in Barcelona colours.
As per a report from Barca insider Gerard Romero of Jijantes, this comes with the highly-regarded frontman in ‘advanced’ negotiations, over a move to England with Chelsea:
‘These minutes of Marc Guiu, if nothing goes wrong, are going to be the striker’s last minutes with Barça. Chelsea plans to pay Guiu’s €6M clause. The player also has advanced agreements with the London club.’
Conor Laird | GSFN
