Barca travels to London Tuesday to avoid ash havoc

Published May. 24, 2011 12:14 p.m. ET

foxsports

Barcelona will travel to London on Tuesday, two days earlier than planned, to avoid having its Champions League preparations disrupted by an erupting Icelandic volcano for the second year running.

Barcelona says on its website the team will fly to London at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) local time, four days ahead of Saturday's final against Manchester United at Wembley.

Dense ash from the erupting Grimsvotn volcano had already forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights Tuesday.

Barcelona traveled to Italy by bus for last year's Champions League semifinal at Inter Milan after an eruption at a different volcano closed European airspace. Barcelona lost the first leg and was eventually knocked out in the semifinals.