With the European football seasons already underway, it is rare to see a friendly match and much more one between two such important groups. But the meeting that FC Barcelona will fight against City of Manchester East Wednesday, August 24 it is special for that charitable purpose.
The Catalan club and the Mancunians will meet at Camp Nou on a special day, on 21:30 local time (2:30 p.m. in CDMX, 3:30 p.m. in the eastern United States, 4:30 p.m. in Argentina), where football will be part of the show for the fans as well a justification for a greater purpose.
Why Barcelona play vs. City of Manchester;
Barcelona’s meeting with Manchester City is a charity race to raise funds for ALS researchpromoted by a former football player and coach Juan Carlos Unzuewho in June 2020 announced that he had given up his coaching career due to the diagnosis of this disease.
A nice meeting for a great cause 💚 #TeamELA pic.twitter.com/9wSVwu2zIc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) August 23, 2022
The Luzon Foundationfrom Spain, she is working to coordinate the fight against ALS in her country and will be the channel for all the money raised by this charity fight: she will receive the proceeds from the fight and donate them to research projects selected according to strict scientific criteria.
Most of the money raised will go towards the project. TRICALS, the European platform of which both England and Spain are part, is dedicated to the management of clinical trials, the selection of hospitals and, with strict inclusion criteria, offers the possibility of participation to patients with ALS.
A great race, for a great cause! 🙌
🔵 #TeamALS | @FundacionLuzonpic.twitter.com/gwWN9egFp9
— Manchester City (@ManCityES) August 23, 2022
Who is Juan Carlos Unzue?
The 55-year-old former coach he was a professional goalkeeper who made his career in several first division teams, among them Osasuna, Sevilla, Tenerife, Real Oviedo and Barcelona itselfwhere he was between 1988 and 1990.
After his retirement in 2003, He returned to the Blaugrana club where he was part of Frank Rijkaard’s coaching staff as goalkeeping coach. and continued in his position until 2010, coinciding with Pep Guardiola in the line, and with whom he won many titles, including the famous sextet since 2009.
💙MORE THAN ONE MATCH❤️
Tomorrow, from 21:30, the Spotify Camp Nou will host a very special match.
Barça and Manchester City will face off in a friendly match against ALS in aid of the Francisco Luzón and Juan Carlos Unzué Foundation.#FCBarcelona #TeamELA pic.twitter.com/vwq7XKGCzN
— CLAM CULÉ (@CLAM_CULE_) August 23, 2022
He then moved to Numancia where he was the head coach and continued his career until 2019 when he ended his stint with Girona FC, a team that was recently promoted to the Spanish top flight this season.
What is ALS?
The Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a condition that affects the spinal cord. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, it is neurodegenerative and progressively affects the nerve cells in the brain.
According to the portal Alsa.org, the motor neurons affected by the disease die over time, so the person suffering from it loses the ability to move the muscles of the body.
“When motor neurons die, the brain loses the ability to initiate and control muscle movement. Because of the progressive effect on voluntary muscle action, patients in the final stages of the disease may become completely paralyzed.” I quote the medium
The causes of this disease are still being investigated, although between 5-10% of patients suffer from it hereditary. ALS is estimated to affect 5 in 100,000 people worldwide.
