Malaysian match organisers have changed the venue for a friendly with Barcelona due to the uneven pitch, which the sports minister decried Saturday as "an embarrassment" to the country.
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The Spanish club said in a statement on their website that they "could not compromise the well being of our players".
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The La Liga champions said team executives and match organisers decided late Friday to move Saturday night's game with a Malaysian XI because of the "poor pitch conditions" at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
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The match will now be held at the slightly smaller 69 000-capacity Shah Alam stadium on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, where the Barcelona team trained Thursday.
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"In the contract we included the possibility (to change venue) if the pitch did not meet the necessary conditions," Barcelona vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu said in the statement.
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Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he had already pointed out the "quite terrible" pitch conditions at Bukit Jalil and ordered the stadium closed from October for upgrading.
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"This is certainly an embarrassment for the country's reputation and causes inconvenience to supporters who have already bought tickets," he wrote in a statement on Facebook.
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Hamidin Amin, general secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia, said Barcelona were unhappy with the ground as "they said certain parts are not even".
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Barcelona arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to play a Malaysia XI after visiting Thailand as part of an Asian tour. They begin their La Liga defence on August 18.
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The Catalan side last visited Asia – home to a massive fan base and huge potential revenue in sponsorship – three years ago.
Barcelona games are games I don't wanna miss right about now. Especially now that Neymar is part of the squad...