Barcelona and Real Madrid players observed a
minute's silence before El Clasico last Saturday
Barcelona have invited Chapecoense to play at
the Nou Camp in the Joan Gamper Trophy next
year.
The Brazilian club is beginning to rebuild in the
wake of last week's tragic air crash in Colombia
which claimed the lives of 19 of their players and
Barcelona are also keen to help with those efforts
as well.
A total of 71 people were killed in the crash which
occurred outside the Colombian city of Medellin,
where Chapecoense were scheduled to play the
first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against
Atletico Nacional.
The Joan Gamper Trophy, named after one of the
club's founders, is Barcelona's traditional curtain
raiser to the season and is usually played in early
August.
A statement read: "FC Barcelona wants to pay
tribute to the 71 people who died in the accident
and their families, and will therefore make the
2017 Joan Gamper Trophy a great tribute to the
world of football through various activities around
this match which will become known as the date
of this celebration approaches.
"Along with the invitation to Chapecoense to the
2017 Joan Gamper Trophy, FC Barcelona would
like to collaborate on the institutional and
sporting reconstruction of the club, and help to
recover the competitive level that it had.
"FC Barcelona has today sent a formal letter of
invitation to the current Board of Directors of
Chapecoense."
Alan Ruschel (R) has walked for the first time
since last week's tragic plane crash
Meanwhile Alan Ruschel, one of
three Chapecoense players to survive the crash,
has taken his first steps following spinal surgery.
The 27-year-old recorded a message to
supporters, saying: "I would like to tell you that I
am recovering very well, I will soon come back to
Brazil to finish my recovery.
"I would like to thank all of you, for the support
given and by the vows of affection that I also
received, I just wanted to thank everyone, thank
you very much."
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