Being In Saudi Arabia Makes Barcelona Worry About The US-Iran Conflict

JAKARTA - Barcelona continues to keep an eye on the conflict between the United States and Iran while they are in Saudi Arabia for the Supercopa de Espana. The Catalan club is preparing various scenarios, including a plan if the conflict reaches Saudi Arabia.

At the moment, there is no indication that conflict will reach Saudi Arabia, but the Middle Eastern home country has a bad history with Iran and is an ally of the United States.

Ernesto Valverde's men train on Wednesday, January 8 evening at the club's Al-Ahli training ground before taking on Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on Thursday night.

The security for each team involved in the Supercopa de Espana has been stepped up after what happened in Iran in recent days. Moreover, on Wednesday morning, Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from its territory at at least two Iraqi-owned facilities housing US-led coalition personnel.

This was carried out by Iran in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a military officer of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Force (IRGC), who has been the commander of the Quds Force since 1998.

Apart from the US-Iran conflict, Valverde also expressed his dismay over the new format of the Supercopa de Espana. The Spanish Football Federation decided to turn it from a match between La Liga champions Santander and Copa del Rey winners to a match between the league's top four rankings last season.

Apart from being played in the middle of the season, the match also took place in Saudi Arabia. Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid on Thursday evening, while Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-1 the day before. The final will be staged on January 12.

✨ MATCHDAY⚽ FC Barcelona 🆚 @atletienglish 🏆 # SuperCopaBarça📍 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia🏟 King Abdullah Sports City📅 8pm CET🔵🔴 # ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/60ieC4WsEG

- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 9, 2020

"(Supercopa de Espana) has always been our first title every season and it looks like it's an open match now for this year," said Valverde at his pre-match press conference ahead of the match against Atletico Madrid.

At first, for Valverde, everything seemed fine. And he will appreciate it when the tournament takes place. But the match turned out to be attractive to the public and created more hope.

"I don't know how from a sporting point of view, because (for me only) there is one league champion and one Copa del Rey winner," said the coach, who is said to be leaving the Catalan club soon.