According to several sources, including Diario Sport, CONMEBOL, the governing body for South American football, have requested FIFA to postpone the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers due to coronavirus pandemic. The matches are scheduled for late March.
This hasn't been officially confirmed, though. If the report is true, several Barcelona players won't be at risk of travelling overseas to join their national teams.
Leo Messi, Arturo Vidal, Arthur Melo and Ronald Araujo are all included in their respective sides' preliminary squad lists.
In Vidal's case, there was a certain risk for the player to get quarantined upon return to Chile. Hopefully, all these players would be allowed to stay in Barcelona.
As a reminder, the Catalan giants have been severely affected by the recent coronavirus crisis.
On Thursday, La Liga suspended the next two matchdays following the announcement that Real Madrid have been quarantined after one of their basketball tests positive for coronavirus.
It means that Barcelona's fixtures against Mallorca on March 14 and Leganes March 22 have been postponed.
Moreover, there is no certainty whether the Champions League clash with Napoli on March 18 is going to be played at all. UEFA have scheduled a videoconference for March 17.
