Fermin Lopez was not risked by Barcelona for their La Liga opener against Valencia on Saturday night. The midfielder is off the back of a very busy summer, which included being part of Spain’s winning squads at Euro 2024 and the Olympic Games. As such, he was granted extra time off before making his return to the club.
Despite not featuring in pre-season due to the Olympics, Pau Cubarsí started at Mestalla, showing determination and courage. He nearly scored an own goal, but made a crucial goal-line clearance to save Barcelona from going down 2-0, he was the leader of the defense, acting as a… pic.twitter.com/c0sEYcY372
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 18, 2024
He was not at the Mestalla to watch his teammates, and he instead watched the match on a stream on his phone. He posted this to his Instagram story, and many supporters (via Diario AS) noted that it appeared to be a pirated broadcast. Fermin deleted the picture soon after it was published.
Fermin will hope that the news doesn’t reach Javier Tebas. The La Liga president has been very outspoken about his right against illegal streaming of the league, and multiple people have been charged with the offence in the last 12 months. Barcelona will hope that their midfielder is not at risk of any punishment – it would be very unlikely if he was, anyway.
Image via OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images
