Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal reacted angrily to the news that he will not be starting Wednesday’s Clasico game against Real Madrid.
It is reported that Vidal was not happy with the decision to leave him on the bench and made this known to team-mates.
Such was the former Juventus and Bayern Munichstar’s anger that he stormed out of Barca’s training session when Ernesto Valverde revealed his favoured starting line-up for Wednesday.
Several players attempted to calm down the player, but Vidal was adamant, walking out of Tuesday’s practice as Barca looked to put the final touches on preparations for the delayed game against their arch-rivals.
This latest explosion only heightens speculation that the Chile international’s time at the Camp Nou is close to coming to an end.
While Vidal has made a series of crucial interventions off the bench, he has found space in Valverde’s starting lineup hard to come by this campaign, sitting below the likes of de Jong, Arthur, Busquets and Rakitic in the midfield pecking order.
He has started just three Liga matches for Barca in 2019-20, his last start coming at the start of November in a chastening 3-1 reverse for them at the hands of Levante.
That lack of playing time has led to claims that the midfielder will attempt to engineer a move away from Camp Nou when the winter transfer window opens in January, a prospect that Vidal himself fuelled.
“I would like to stay here forever, but I have to be objective and look at things from day to day,” he said in an interview with TV3.
“If in December or at the end of the season I don’t feel that I am important here I will have to look for a solution and widen my horizons to be important.”
