Barcelona vs Valencia 90% likely to be played at Estadi Johan Cruyff – report | OneFootball

FC Barcelona continue to work tirelessly to return to the Spotify Camp Nou as soon as possible.

The target set by the Blaugrana was to host their first home league game, against Valencia, after the September international break, back at their stadium.

However, that now looks highly unlikely. The club has not completely ruled it out yet, giving themselves a few more days before making a final decision.

Estadi Johan Cruyff the likely venue

As such, according to SPORT, Estadi Johan Cruyff is now the likeliest venue to host Barcelona vs Valencia on 14 September.

Unlike UEFA, La Liga has not set a deadline for Barça to confirm the stadium for their fourth league fixture. Still, the expectation is that the decision will be taken on Monday.

That timing aligns with the club’s own schedule, as they await all the necessary permits to reopen the stadium. While full use of the venue is still a long way off, even opening it at reduced capacity would represent major progress on many fronts.

Barça explained that DEKRA, the company in charge of validating, certifying and approving the work completed so far at the Spotify Camp Nou, carried out an inspection on Thursday.

Camp Nou unlikely to host Barcelona vs Valencia. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

They must now produce a report for the City Council. If the outcome is positive, it will be up to the council to issue the first occupancy licence. Barça are optimistic that all parties will speed up the paperwork as much as possible, but also recognise that time is very tight.

For this reason, while not completely discarding the possibility of hosting Valencia at Camp Nou, the club has already accepted that it is out of their hands and are preparing for the more likely scenario: Hansi Flick’s side welcoming Valencia at Estadi Johan Cruyff.

The fact that the decision is not yet 100% final was shown on Thursday, when tests were carried out on the Camp Nou’s giant screens.

La Liga, for its part, is understood to have given the green light for Barcelona to host the game at their reserve team stadium.

Meanwhile, optimism remains high that Barça will be back at Camp Nou for the fifth league fixture, at home to Getafe on 21 September. The club are convinced there will be ample time to obtain the certificates needed to host the Madrid side.