A setback for Barcelona: a surprise circumstance deals a fatal blow to Flick's plan before the Paris Saint-Germain clash

The match next Tuesday

Barcelona endured a genuine ordeal on their journey back home following their match against Real Betis.

The Catalans had won 5-2 at Real Betis in the ninth round of La Liga.

According to "Marca", with the fixture list growing ever more congested and a demanding week ahead, the Blaugrana ran into an unexpected setback on Saturday evening.

Heavy rain in Seville wrecked the squad's travel plans. They spent the night there instead, and their preparations for Tuesday's crucial Champions League tie with Paris Saint-Germain changed drastically.

Kick-off at La Cartuja had been 6:30pm, with the squad due to fly back to Barcelona straight afterwards.

Landing at El Prat around midnight, resting at home, then back in for training on Sunday at 11:00am at the Joan Gamper sports city: that was the plan.

The weather had other ideas, and a precise schedule drawn up by Hansi Flick went out of the window.

Rain delays kept the Barcelona squad sitting on board the plane. The longer it dragged on, the slimmer their chances of getting home late on Saturday night.

Then came word that take-off would not be possible until around 4:00am. Back to the hotel they went, to spend the night in Seville.

Flick now had a fresh problem on his hands. His coaching staff had to reorganise Sunday's training session around the new travel plans.

The team finally set off at midday and, after arriving in Barcelona at exactly 2:45pm, headed straight to Barcelona's training facilities for light recovery work in the gym.

Only a few hours in Catalonia, then the bags come out again.

The Blaugrana are scheduled to travel to Paris next Monday at 10:30am, where they will face Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.