Champions League: Barça begins preparing for the match against Inter despite the blackout

The blackout that surprised Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom this Monday around noon did not prevent FC Barcelona from returning to work. After a festive Sunday due to winning the Copa del Rey, the squad returned to training from 11:00 a.m., with their sights set on the first Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan.

Barça will be at home on Wednesday from 9:00 p.m. CEST in Montjuïc and Hansi Flick was able to count on the entire squad available, with the exception of the injured players. Robert Lewandowski and Alejandro Balde continue to train separately from the group and, in the case of the '9', he is completely ruled out for the first leg against Simone Inzaghi's team.

Balde, on the other hand, seems closer to medical discharge, but the coaching staff prioritizes having both of them for the return leg in Milan next Tuesday, May 6. Therefore, unnecessary risks will not be taken, since both Ferran Torres and Gerard Martín have responded very well to Flick's confidence in all competitions.

Barça maintains its schedule prior to the first leg of the 'semis' against Inter

The blackout in Spain caught Barcelona in the middle of a recovery session after the Copa final. However, the interruption of the electricity service did not prevent the scheduled day from continuing at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.

And it is that all the facilities of the Barça complex have generators that were activated automatically after the blackout. In addition to the first men's team, the handball and futsal subsidiaries also trained normally until late in the afternoon.

In the case of the team led by Hansi Flick, the last training session prior to the match against Inter will take place this Tuesday from 11:00 in the morning. A couple of hours later, at the end of the session, the coach will appear before the media in the pre-match press conference, accompanied by Lamine Yamal.

Inter, attentive to a possible delay in their transfer to Barcelona

However, if the blackout takes longer than estimated, the first leg of the Champions League 'semis' could be postponed. Inter Milan is scheduled to travel to Barcelona early on Tuesday, but the chaos at airports due to the lack of electricity has caused multiple flight delays.

If the 'nerazzurri' team fails to travel to Catalonia at the scheduled time, UEFA could consider rescheduling the match. The same applies to the match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in London.

For UEFA, having to postpone this week's matches would cause a major problem, since the calendar gives very little margin to define new dates. The season must end on May 31, because in mid-June, on Saturday the 14th, the FIFA Club World Cup begins and the participating teams need at least two weeks to prepare for the tournament.

Spain, without electricity since Monday noon

The blackout occurred around 12:30 noon and affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, as well as France, Italy and Germany. After hours of uncertainty about the causes of the blackout, the Portuguese operator REN (Redes Energéticas Nacionais) ruled out the version of a "cyber attack" as responsible for the failure.

The company leaked to 'Reuters that "the interruptions in the electricity supply in Portugal were a consequence of a failure in the Spanish electricity grid, related to a rare atmospheric phenomenon." For her part, the vice-president of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, assured that, for the moment, there is no evidence confirming "any type of boycott or cyberattack."

In principle, the Spanish government assured that the restoration of the electricity service would take between 6 and 10 hours. Around 5:30 p.m., some areas of northern Catalonia were recovering electricity, along with the rest of the autonomous communities.