• Opinion: Sport, betrayed, by Vicente Salaner

  • Heurtel. Barcelona gets him off the plane and leaves him in Istanbul

  • Basketball: Barça admits that he left Heurtel in Istanbul, but with a hotel and a plane ticket

Istanbul is a city deserted by Covid-19.

People over 65 can only go out between 10 in the morning and one in the afternoon, those under 20 between one and four in the afternoon and there is a curfew for the population throughout the weekend .

One of the capitals with the most atmosphere in the world silenced by a pandemic that added 251 deaths and almost 20,000 new infections in the last 24 hours, with 18,861 deaths and more than two million cases in total.

And there, in the heart of Istanbul, one of the most surreal episodes of recent years in world sport happened.

Those responsible for the Barcelona basketball section, who had just seen from the stands

the defeat of his team against Anadolu Efes (86-79)

, decided to ban Frenchman Thomas Heurtel, MVP of the last two titles won by the club, the 2018 and 2019 King's Cups, from the squad bus. He was denied travel with the rest of his teammates on the charter flight that directly connected the Turkish capital with Barcelona and left him to his fate, according to EL MUNDO his surroundings, in a parking lot without taxis, in the middle of the night, in a city with restrictions due to Covid-19 and in a country that does not belong to the European Union.

The reasons?

It all started a few weeks ago and exploded, as this newspaper has learned, when Barcelona found out about Real Madrid's interest in the French guard.

Broken relationship with Jasikevicius

The relationship between Jasikevicius, culé coach, and Heurtel were totally broken.

The Lithuanian, temperamental man where they exist, was not happy with the player's performance and he was not happy with the role he had in the team, so the section management decided that the best solution was the departure of Heurtel, who contract expired in 2022, prior agreement of

a termination that would exceed one million euros

.

Barcelona chose as a substitute

Leo Westermann

, French Fenerbahce player who happens to have the same representation agency as Heurtel, 'Beobasket'.

Westermann reached an agreement with the Catalan team and, according to sources close to the operation, signed a contract while the two-time MVP was looking for a new destination.

With the consent of Barça, Heurtel negotiated with Fenerbahce and with various Euroleague teams ... And then Real Madrid appeared, which

he just lost Facundo Campazzo

.

The white club asked about the situation of the Frenchman and the environment of the player, a known Madrid fan since he was a child, did not rule out any option. It was at that moment, on Tuesday at one in the afternoon, when the Barcelona managers learned of the interest of the Real Madrid and "flew into a rage", according to the French environment assures EL MUNDO: "They considered him high treason and told him he couldn't go to Madrid."

Heurtel was with the team in Istanbul, where the

Jasikevicius

They had to face Efes and where the Frenchman was going to meet with his agent to coordinate the situation.

The Catalans were defeated at the Sinan Erdem and the expedition was on the bus ready to go to the airport when

Nacho Rodriguez

, the club's sports director, "asked Heurtel to get out of the vehicle," according to his surroundings. In the parking lot he explained that he was separated from the team, that he was not going to fly on the charter with them, and re-named the two keywords of the controversy: "High treason."

The bus left the place and Heurtel remained on the ground, with the suitcase but without transportation.

He was picked up by his former teammate from Efes

Rodrigue Beaubois

, also French, and took him to the hotel where he had stayed with Barça.

His room was no longer reserved by the club, which was already flying to Spain, but he managed to stay the night.

Barça himself looked for a flight back to Barcelona, ​​something different from a charter, yes: from 3 hours direct to more than eight with a stopover in Lyon offered by the Barça management.

"A friendly solution"

This Wednesday, 24 hours before Christmas Eve, Heurtel already slept at his home in Barcelona with his family, while his close circle studied how to act in the next few hours.

Both Barça and the player are interested in separating paths and finding "a friendly solution", with the option of Real Madrid still on the table and the contract of

Westermann

signed, but they do not rule out any legal action if the situation does not unravel Barça, for their part, tried to justify their reaction by ensuring that the player and his agent traveled with the team at their own request, but that they were not part of the expedition , given that he was not called up for the game against Efes, and that he was not left to his fate.

"It was not neglected in any case and all the facilities were given," the entity said in a statement.

Today he is scheduled to go to the club's facilities to undergo the corresponding PCR tests together with the rest of the squad, but it is not clear whether or not he will train together with his teammates. Heurtel, for now, preferred to remain cautious and not make any kind of public demonstration on arrival in Barcelona, ​​while receiving support from many other basketball figures.

Among them, that of a

Tyrese rice

that already passed a very complicated situation in his time at Barça in 2017, after seeing how he was forced to train with the subsidiary before finding an exit in China.

"Didn't they let him get on the plane? Are they telling him he can't go home? The man has family and everything. Wow. I hope he goes to Real if that's an option. Because God knows if he had the chance, I would have gone, "he said.

Mike james

For his part, he was also very forceful.

"I have always considered Barça as one of the best in the Euroleague, but if this is what it seems, it is a real shame. This is not a dictatorship, if you do not love me, let me go and I will decide what is best for my family "said the CSKA base in Moscow.

The Frenchman's teammates at Barça, meanwhile, only gave their silence in response.

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