体坛英语新闻：Barca announce Shanghai friendly as Rosell backs coach Vilanova

MADRID, Mar. 4 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona will play a friendly match in Shanghai this summer as part of a three-game Asian tour, it was confirmed on Monday.

The news was given by Board of Directors' spokesman, Toni Freixa in a joint press conference with club President, Sandro Rosell at 7:00 pm local time.

Freixa said that Barca will play in Shanghai on August 4, before another game in Bangkok on August 7 and in Kuala Lumpur three days later.

Although it is just a pre-season friendly and will take place almost a month before the start of the 2013-14 season, the full Barca squad with all of its star players, such as Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta, will be available for the tour, as there is no World Cup or European Championship played this summer.

Meanwhile Barca will almost certainly travel as Champions of the BBVA Primera Liga given they have an 11 point lead over Atletico Madrid and a 13 point advantage over Real Madrid in the Spanish league table.

However, the Catalan side has seen its form drop badly in recent week, suffering a 2-0 defeat away to AC Milan in the Champions League, as well as a 3-1 home defeat to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey and a 2-1 setback to their bitter rivals in the Primera Liga on Saturday.

It is probably no coincidence that Barca's dip in form has coincided with coach Tito Vilanova travelling to New York for cancer treatment, leaving the team in the hands of his assistant, Jordi Roura.

Rosell travelled to see Vilanova in New York at the end of last week and explained he had seen the coach in good spirits.

"Considering he is in treatment and bearing in mind his medical situation, I have seen Tito in really good spirits and completely up to date with that is happening every day at the club. He said that since he has been in New York he has seen more games than ever," commented the President, who gave a tentative date for Vilanova's return.

"I think he is very good and looking forward to coming back. He hope it will all be dealt with by the end of March and he is happy because he has started his countdown. He is very keen to return," said Rosell.

The President admitted Vilanova's absence could be a factor in his side's poor recent form.

"It's normal that you notice it when you are missing a leader: sports psychologists say that you start to notice a lack of leadership after 30 days and we have been without him for a long time, although I don't think that two or three bad games should mean our players and coaches should be judged. Nobody has unlimited credit, but its quite a bit more than two games," he said, ending with a resounding vote of confidence in Vilanova.

"Tito Vilanova will be our coach whatever happens and we ratify Tito until he returns, whenever that is. He will be the coach as long as I am President, said Rosell, who said that whatever happened the season would be a success as long as Vilanova had recovered by the time it was over.