On June 18, 2020, Juan Carlos Unzué announced that he suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He then went up to the stage of the Auditori 1899 of the Camp Nou by his own foot. He now he needs help from a wheelchair. Two years and one day later, on the same stage, the exporter and former coach met with Barça president, Joan Laporta, and City manager, Josep Guardiola, to present the charity friendly – the proceeds will go to the Luzón Foundation and Tricals, for the investigation on the ELA – that the blaugrana and the citizen will play on August 24 at the Camp Nou.
The day of the game will be a week and a day before the transfer market closes. Santpedor's coach proclaimed that he will travel to Barcelona with all his stars, including Håland, his latest star. It was a message to Barça for him to desist from signing Bernardo Silva, whom the Blaugrana club has set their sights on in case he ends up selling Frenkie de Jong. “We will bring all the artillery. We will be Bernardo Silva and ten more”, he verbalized his intention to continue counting on the Portuguese. From the words of his coach, the English club has no intention of getting rid of the midfielder.
The truth is that the 27-year-old footballer really wants to play in Spain, which could be key. Because Guardiola remarked that he does not like to retain soccer players if they are not involved in the project. “Today I think Bernardo Silva will continue. But as I have always said, since my time at Barça, I don't want players who don't want to be there. What I can say is that Bernardo is important to us”. Silva has played 50 games this season and has scored 13 goals.
For his part, Joan Laporta considered that it was not the time to talk about names. “I like to have the best at Barça and we are working to have the most competitive team for next season”, he limited himself to commenting.
The match will mean Guardiola's return to the Camp Nou, a stadium that he has only visited twice as a visitor, the last in October 2016, already with City (4-0 for Valverde's Barça). “Here I feel at home. Although every time I come I drop four, ”he reflected. For the first time in that match, Pep will face Xavi on the bench, who was his disciple.
