News Of The Day: Tito To Undergo Surgery And Treatment For Relapse

By: Ade C. | December 19th, 2012

This morning, we were preparing a post with several good news that have come up these days when the club released a terse statement saying that Rosell’s press conference and the traditional Christmas dinner with the press had been cancelled, and that the club would give a statement later. No one seemed to know the reasons. One hour later, we heard that all player interviews had been cancelled too. Whatever news they were waiting to unleash on us, they were big.

Keep calm, like Tito. That's our new motto.

Shortly after midday, Mundo Deportivo said that the big news were that Tito Vilanova had suffered a relapse, after having had a small cancerous tumour removed on November last year. The Twittersphere exploded with alarmist rumours and contradicting reports, and it wasn’t until nearly 7 PM that the club’s official statement came out.

Basically, Tito will undergo surgery this Thursday to treat “an extension of his pathology” (the tumour in his pariotid gland), and will be in hospital recovering for 3-4 days. Afterwards, he will need to go through a combined chemotherapy/radiotherapy treatment for 6 weeks, during which he might be able to work (or not) depending on how he feels.

“According to the patient’s wishes, we ask respect for the privacy and confidentiality of the process.”

This is shocking news and I’m not going to lie, I’ve cried a little. Because this isn’t fair, and because fuck cancer. But Tito fought and overcame this illness before, and there’s no reason not to believe that he will not do so again this time. I’m sure the club will do everything in their power to help Tito with his recovery. Right now, NOTHING is as important as making sure our coach recovers. Like when something similar happened to Abidal, it’s time to get some perspective and put sporting concerns second, and humane concerns first.

Rosell and Zubizarreta will hold a press conference later today, we will update this post when this happens. ETA: in the press conference, it’s been confirmed that Jordi Roura, the assistant coach, will lead the team this weekend, while Tito is unavailable (but Tito remains and will remain first team coach).

In the meanwhile, we leave you with the happy news under the cut, for a small measure of consolation.

-Doctors have given Eric Abidal the all-clear to return to full-intensity training with the rest of the team (like he did today!), marking his return to football! We still don’t know when he will be called up with the squad or when he might make his return to the team (knowing Tito and how cautious he was with Villa on his return from injury, it might take a while), but it’s amazing news nevertheless! Abidal is an example to us all, as is also the club, for standing besides him through his illness and recovery. And, considering the news about Tito, this can only be seen as a good omen.

The Three Graces, Modern Football Edition.

-Also yesterday, the club announced that Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández and Leo Messi have come to individual agreements to renew their contracts with Barça; Puyol and Xavi will sign new contracts until 2016, while Messi will sign until 2018. This is on top of Cristian Tello signing his new contract, which makes him a first-team player (at last!) until 2016.

Chin up, culés! We have to believe it’s going to be fine. We will, of course, keep you updated both here and on our Twitter.