Barcelona cancels tribute to Spain's World Cup winners for Catalan flag event

Barcelona has opted not to honor its players who won the World Cup with Spain at their first home game of the LaLiga season against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday. This decision follows an incident where police confiscated the 'estelada' flag from a fan during a recent match. Instead of the planned tribute, the club will support the display of the Catalan flag by distributing 10,000 flags to fans at Camp Nou. Barcelona's president Joan Laporta emphasized the importance of freedom of expression and stated the situation was not conducive to honoring the Spain players. The absence of the tribute contrasts with other Spanish clubs that paid homage to their World Cup champions. The match is set to take place soon in Barcelona.

• 3:35 PMYahoo Sports — Barcelona scraps tribute to Spain World Cup winners in favor of act supporting Catalan symbol