Barca confirm friendly with Vissel Kobe in Japan

The possibility of a Vissel Kobe-FC Barcelona friendly had been rumoured in recent days and was finally confirmed officially on Tuesday, following an announcement made by the Catalan giants through their official channels.

"Hello, Japan!" read the message posted by the club on their profiles, which attached an image of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Robert Lewandowski with Japan's National Stadium in the background, where the match will be played.

The Barca squad will close the 2022-23 season against Andres Iniesta and Sergi Samper's Vissel Kobe on 6th June. The local media suggest that it will be a farewell match for the World Cup 2010 winner, who will leave the Japanese club.

The 'Cules', once the match against Celta -the last matchday of La Liga- is over, will take a plane from Vigo to Tokyo and then, once the friendly is over, they will fly to Barcelona to start their holidays.

Almost four years later, Barca will return to Japan. The Catalan side carried out a pre-season in 2019 and also faced Vissel Kobe, in Iniesta's first clash against his former team.

 

May 9, 2023