The Catalans did not want the winger to face them on Tuesday night

This season Barça decided to implement the so-called 'fear clause', which prevents loan players from playing against their parent club. They only did so with two specific players, Ez Abde and Nico González. This was not the case for Álex Collado, on loan at Elche, nor for those who play outside the Spanish league.

Neither Abde nor Nico were able to face the Azulgrana with Osasuna and Valencia respectively. This Tuesday, the red and white team visits the Spotify Camp Nou and the Moroccan will not be there. To 'free' him, his current club would have had to pay, as revealed some time ago by 'Diario de Navarra', the amount of 300,000 euros.

They decided that they would not activate it. The Pamplona club would have considered it, and very seriously, if there had been a clash in the final of the Copa del Rey, because of the importance of the match, a trophy at stake -they have never won it- and with automatic qualification for Europe on the line, they would have done it. But Barça lost in the semi-finals against Real Madrid and there was no need to study it further.

Abde, who already missed the match at El Sadar, the one in which Lewandowski was suspended for three games, will not be at the Spotify Camp Nou either. He has been 'reserved' to be at his best for the Copa final against Real Madrid on Saturday 6 May.

It was a participation that also hung in the balance until the last moment. Abde was a substitute on 25 April in Cádiz. He came on after 83 minutes and in the 85th minute he was shown a straight red card for a kick on Iza Carcelén.

Speculation was rife. If the action was considered as aggression, he could get from 4 to 12 matches, but in the end the Competition Committee went for the lighter version and he was only suspended with a one-match ban, which he already served last Friday against Real Sociedad.

Abde will therefore arrive at the final after having played only two minutes in the three previous matches, the one in which he was sent off, the one in which he served his suspension and the one in which the 'fear clause' was enforced. He will be rested and ready to shine.