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The last thing Barcelona needed ahead of their showdown with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday was a disruption to their preparation, but that's precisely what Hansi Flick's side encountered thanks to severe storms battering the Catalan coastline.
The reigning Spanish champions were set to depart Seville on Saturday evening following their dominant 5–2 win over Real Betis when the weather intervened. The squad's flight back to Barcelona was pushed back until the early hours of the morning before the players were ultimately forced to disembark and return to the hotel for an unplanned extra night away.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the club even explored the option of flying directly to Paris rather than attempting to return to Catalonia, but the decision was eventually made to head home on Sunday afternoon. The disruption forced Flick to reshape his preparations for the high-profile Champions League encounter rapidly approaching.
The report states the German manager was compelled to scrap his full training session on Sunday, settling instead for a light indoor recovery workout. The squad will not take to the pitch, a significant blow given the magnitude of their upcoming fixture.
PSG Now Have an Even Bigger Advantage Over Barça
The reigning European and French champions were already entering Tuesday's contest with the upper hand. Not only do PSG enjoy home advantage at the Parc des Princes, but they also arrive at the match with their key players thoroughly rested.
As has become customary in Paris, Luis Enrique fielded a heavily rotated XI for the club's Ligue 1 fixture against Strasbourg this weekend. Ousmane Dembélé, Vitinha, Désiré Doué, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Fabián Ruiz and Willian Pacho all began the match from the bench.
That same group, with the exception of Hakimi, was also held back from Enrique's starting lineup the previous weekend against Le Mans in preparation for the club's Champions League tie with Manchester City, a match they claimed 4–2 at the Etihad Stadium.
Enrique enjoys the luxury of managing his top performers in a manner most coaches across Europe could only envy. The best Flick could manage was withdrawing key figures such as Lamine Yamal and Fermín Lopez during the second half against Real Betis. Nevertheless, several Barcelona players still completed the full 90 minutes, including Pedri, Rodri and Pau Cubarsí.
To make matters worse, the Catalans must now contend with a travel nightmare, disrupted sleep and a missed full training session in the lead-up to their clash against the back-to-back Champions League holders.
Barcelona Hoping for Champions League Redemption
For all of Barcelona's dominance on the domestic front over the past two seasons, they have repeatedly fallen short when the stakes are highest on the European stage. The Catalans have not reached a Champions League final since 2015, let alone claimed the trophy.
The squad has arguably never been better positioned to go all the way in Europe than in 2026–27. Flick's men appear virtually unstoppable, having won all 11 of their matches across all competitions to date. Even more remarkable is that they have scored four goals or more in eight of those outings.
There is a confidence to the reigning Spanish champions that was noticeably absent this time last year when they faced PSG. Barcelona fell 2–1 at home in that league phase encounter, all while Dembélé sat out injured.
Disrupted preparations or not, Barcelona will arrive ready to make their mark in the French capital on Tuesday. Toppling the defending title holders would only fuel the belief within a squad determined to complete a treble by May.