Indian footballers excited about Barcelona trip

NEW DELHI - Indian footballers are excited at the prospect of training at the famous Nou Camp in Barcelona next month.

Scheduled to leave Thursday, the players are still uncertain about their departure for their preparatory tour to Dubai and Barcelona as some of them are yet to get Spanish visa, but it was the Champions League winner Barcelona’s Nou Camp training facility that was keeping the players busy all day.

India skipper Bhaichung Bhutia said Thursday that the tour will help the defending champions to get back into perfect shape ahead of the Nehru Cup in August.

“Pre-season tours are always important for all national teams and training at Barcelona will be a big opportunity for us. It will also help us to achieve top fitness level and good match practice against some of the good teams,” said national captain Bhaichung Bhutia.

Defender Surkumar Singh and mid-fielder Steven Dias were busy surfing on their laptops finding details about Nou Camp.

Dias said that overseas preparatory tour to Portugal in the last two years had helped India to win two international titles but Barcelona will offer the team a new experience.

“We have been going to Portugal for the last two years, so going there again this year was meaningless. But Barcelona will be a different opportunity for us. We will also get to play against some better teams this time,” he said.

Forward Abhishek Yadav felt that it was a once in a life-time opportunity for the Indian players to train at Nou Camp.

“At Nou Camp we will learn about what it takes for Barcelona to become the best club in the world. I don’t remember any Indian team in the past getting such an opportunity to use the training facilities of the world’s best club,” he said.

The team will practice in Dubai till July 7 and the will travel to Barcelona for a month-long camp at the Nou Camp till Aug 7. They also play against some local teams during their stay in Barcelona.