Barca issue Chapecoense invitation, offer help for tragedy hit club

Players of Chapecoense celebrate after the match against San Lorenzo at Arena Conda stadium, Chapeco, Brazil, Nov 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

MADRID -- Spanish football giants, FC Barcelona on Thursday invited Brazilian club Chapecoense to play in their annual Joan Gamper Trophy following the air crash in Colombia which killed nearly all of the Chapocoense team on Nov 28.

Barca posted a communique on their official website: www.fcbarcelona.com, stating the club wanted 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."

The Spanish club also announced there would be "various activities around this match which will become known as the date of this celebration approaches," and that they "would like to collaborate on the institutional and sporting reconstruction of the club, and help to recover the competitive level that it had."

Meanwhile Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has confirmed in an interview with a Uruguayan radio station that Luis Suarez is close to agreeing a new contract to extent his stay at the Camp Nou until 2022.

"The contract renewals is done, there are just a few details to resolve. Luis will stay at Barcelona, where he is loved by everyone and he is a fan of the club."

"The contract will be made public in the coming days or weeks," said Bartomeu.