Barcelona see Camp Nou request rejected by UEFA ahead of Champions League draw

Barcelona's ongoing Camp Nou renovation work has rumbled on into a third season, and the latest reports indicate that the club won't be playing home games back at their spiritual home any time soon.

After originally planning on returning during the second half of last season, the club ended up seeing the season out at the Estadi de Montjuic, the city's former Olympic Stadium.

They then pencilled in a pre-season match with Como for their triumphant return, but these plans were also scrapped due to health and safety concerns.

Now, after requesting their first three La Liga matches to be played away from home, the club faces even more time at the Montjuic with the Camp Nou still not ready to welcome fans.

UEFA reject Barcelona Camp Nou request

While the club are now reportedly resigned to playing more La Liga matches at the Olympic Stadium, they had sent a request to UEFA asking them to ensure their first Champions League match is played away from home.

This would give the club an extra couple of weeks to get the stadium up to health and safety standards by the week commencing 29 September. However, reports in Spain have indicated that UEFA haven't even bothered to respond to the request, leaving the club resigned to the possibility of an opening home tie.

If this happens, then Barcelona will have to play the entire league phase away from the Camp Nou as UEFA rules stipulate that all clubs must use the same stadium for the whole first phase of the competition, which runs until the League phase playoff round.

As a result, Barcelona are now expected to play matches at the Estadi de Montjuic until the new year.

FGG says: The pressure is on

These things rarely go to plan time-wise, but the longer the delays are, the more frustrating it is going to become for match-going Barcelona fans who have already had to wait longer than they were originally promised. Yes, the pressure is on, but safety must come first.