{"id":650218,"date":"2026-05-18T11:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T11:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650218\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T11:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T11:38:09","slug":"no-squad-announcement-no-hotel-visit-barcelona-make-unusual-change-of-strategy-ahead-of-real-betis-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650218\/","title":{"rendered":"No squad announcement, no hotel visit: Barcelona make unusual change of strategy ahead of Real Betis clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona are set to take on Real Betis this evening, in what will be the club\u2019s final home game of the season and <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/how-barcelona-plan-to-celebrate-robert-lewandowskis-farewell-match-at-camp-nou\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">mark the Camp Nou farewell for Robert Lewandowski<\/a>, who announced his desire to leave the club at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Lewandowski\u2019s emotional farewell, the game does not hold much importance for Barcelona, as they have already secured the league title.<\/p>\n<p>A change of routine<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fc-barcelona-v-atletico-de-madrid-uefa-champions-league-2025-26-quarter-final-first-leg-7-1-1024x716.jpeg\" alt=\"Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-196505\"  \/>Lewandowski will play his last home game for Barcelona this evening. (Photo by Eric Alonso\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/cambio-planes-barca-previa-betis-130322265\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Diario SPORT<\/a>, Barcelona have made a series of unusual adjustments to their matchday preparations ahead of tonight\u2019s fixture.<\/p>\n<p>In a rather unusual fashion, the players will eat at their respective homes and travel directly to the stadium, skipping the usual gathering at 1:00 PM, and the team hotel stop altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, there will be no official squad announcement before the match, another break from standard procedure since Flick\u2019s arrival last season.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona\u2019s relaxed strategy comes on the back of their title triumph against Real Madrid, with the Catalans having nothing left to play for.<\/p>\n<p>Other changes vs Real Betis<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/getafe-cf-v-fc-barcelona-laliga-ea-sports-2-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-198043\"  \/>Hansi Flick will be keen on securing all three points. (Photo by Denis Doyle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Off the pitch, the usual board luncheon will take place at a different venue, the Melia Torre Melina hotel, rather than the traditional location. <\/p>\n<p>Neither Joan Laporta nor Rafa Yuste will be present, with directors Alfons Castro and Josep-Ignasi Macia representing the club instead<\/p>\n<p>This is a drastic change of affairs for a team which will be playing its last home game of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Even Real Betis, for that matter, do not have much to play for, as they cannot possibly go below fifth spot, nor can they catch up with fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, who have a nine point lead heading into this matchday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona are set to take on Real Betis this evening, in what will be the club\u2019s final home&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[418,49042,4893,106171,112872,99],"class_list":["post-650218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-hansi-flick","tag-robert-lewandowski","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}