Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has reiterated that the club will not permit star forward Neymar to play at both the Copa America and Olympics for Brazil this summer.
As Brazil's national captain and undisputed best player, Neymar could well feature at both the Copa America Centenario in the United States from June 3-26 and then also in the Olympics in his home country which is being played between Aug. 3-20.
This would make it difficult for the Blaugrana attacker to also fit in some rest this summer and also prepare properly with his teammates for the start of the 2016-17 La Liga campaign.
On Friday, Bartomeu once again stated the Catalan club's position.
"We have sent a letter to the CBF [Brazil Football Confederation] in which we have said that the player should rest for the good of both Barca and his national team and we have made a proposal," Bartomeu told reporters on Friday. "We understand that the player wants to play in everything, but we are asking them to place value on the idea that the player compete in just one event. We would prefer that to be the Olympics. Whether or not we will prohibit him from both, that remains to be seen. First we will talk about it. But if we have to impose something, we will impose it."
Brazil's football confederation has said it "will do everything possible" to have the player with the national team in both the United States and Rio.
Luis Enrique's men saw Atletico Madrid end their Champions League dreams after a quarterfinal second leg 2-0 defeat at the Estadio Vicente Calderon. The loss, which eliminates their chances for a second straight Treble, leaves them to focus on the La Liga and Copa del Rey. They take on Valencia on Sunday.
Bartomeu addressed the club's current state of mind.
"I don't want to start without discussing what happened on Wednesday," he said. "We have to remain calm, this is sports. You can win and lose -- but you can't always win. The team is focused upon winning two titles -- La Liga and the Copa -- and winning the double that in the entire history of the club we have only won six times. That is our focus and we stated that a few days ago; we must support our players this Sunday, give them support and energy. There are six matches left in La Liga season and success with the two titles would be spectacular."
Ahora más que nunca, apoyemos al equipo. El domingo todos al Camp Nou https://t.co/hpxIGbdIrT
- Josep Maria Bartomeu (@jmbartomeu) April 15, 2016
Asked whether he had spoken with Luis Enrique, Bartomeu said it was not a topic for media discussion.
"It is true that the club has hit a pothole. This happens to us each season and sadly it happened to us now," Bartomeu said. "If we look back at other seasons we can see that the same thing happened. So I am left with the feeling that on Sunday we will be back to normal."
Regarding a recent social media post from Dani Alves, which saw the player don a wig and pretend to be a woman consoling him over the loss, Bartomeu would only say that he suspected that some of the players "may have had a bit too much to drink" after the defeat.
"It is true that we all woke up to that video from Alves," Bartomeu said. "There are several possible reactions and several ways to see it. One of them is that surely he had one too many drinks on Wednesday and we should take it lightly and laugh a little. But there are socios who felt offended because they are suffering.
"Regarding the potential regulation of the players' use of social media, La Liga and UEFA are also concerned," Bartomeu said. "In football there are many young people who follow their idols and those idols do things that are questionable. I am hopeful that some guidelines will be handed down soon. As to whether or not we will discuss this in the dressing room, if we do, we would not make that conversation public."