Barcelona To Take On Qatari Side Al-Ahli As Part Of Deal With Qatar Airways

Barcelona will play a friendly in Qatar against Al-Ahli on Dec. 13, according to Samuel Marsden of ESPN.com. The fixture, "which will be sandwiched between La Liga games against Osasuna, on Dec. 11 and Espanyol on Dec. 16," is part of the agreement Barcelona signed with principle sponsor Qatar Airways. Doha's Thani bin Jassim Stadium will host the match, which had been scheduled to take place "earlier this year." However, the original May 24 date was scrapped as the final of the L'Emir Cup and different games in the local league were scheduled for the same day. There were also reports in Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, though, that several Barça players "were not keen to play the game ahead of their summer commitments with their national teams" (ESPN.com, 10/20).