Many fans were bemused
Barcelona progressed through to the last eight of the Champions League tonight, beating Napoli 3-1 at the Camp Nou and winning 4-2 on aggregate.
It was a pretty straightforward affair for the Catalan side, with Lionel Messi the star of the show, scoring a brilliant goal to double Barça's lead after Clement Lenglet opened the scoring with a header.
But one aspect of the game bemused many viewers - why weren't Barcelona wearing their new kit? Due to the Covid-affected schedule of the Champions League, the last few knockout rounds have come after most teams have announced their kits for next season. As a result, most teams are wearing next season's kit, for the end of this season, as you may have noticed when watching Real Madrid or Juventus on Friday night.
Barcelona were the exception, with many people asking why.
https://twitter.com/Ojeey_wilson/status/1292017552546320386
https://twitter.com/KC_Anasse_14/status/1292147315445313536
The reason is that Barcelona are currently involved in a legal dispute with kit suppliers Nike, after a batch of kits sent out for release proved to be faulty, with the colours bleeding when wet, according to the
FT.
The kits are therefore not on sale yet, and Barça are reportedly pursuing compensation from Nike after they missed out on a key window to sell the newly announced kit, over the course of the next few weeks.
Without the kit available to buy, it would have made no sense to wear the new kit. Which is a shame, because it's really beautiful.
https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1283015762626699265
https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1289130125947265024
