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CHELSEA

Chelsea prep bid for Fiorentina’s Cuadrado

Chelsea are preparing a bid for Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado although La Viola would not sell the Colombian for less than €35 million, reports in Italy said on Wednesday.

Chelsea prep bid for Fiorentina's Cuadrado
Juan Cuadrado has scored five goals this season including four in Serie A. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Cuadrado, a reported summer transfer target for Manchester United and Barcelona, has eclipsed his shaky start to the season with a string of solid performances to help the Serie A side up to sixth place.

Reports claim Chelsea are set to offer €27 million for the Colombian international, although Gazzetta dello Sport said Fiorentina club president Andrea Della Valle would not sell for less than the value of his buy-out clause, €35 million.

Fiorentina host Atalanta on Wednesday looking to seal their place in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup, having lost last year's final to Napoli.

In Italy's top flight Fiorentina are 16 points behind leaders and champions Juventus but are firmly in contention for the third and last Champions League qualifying spot at three points behind Napoli.

Cuadrado, who moved to Fiorentina from Udinese in the summer of 2012, has scored five goals this season including four in Serie A.

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PROTESTS

IN PICS: Dozens injured in clashes outside Barcelona’s Camp Nou during El Clasico

Masked protesters set bins on fire and threw rocks and glass bottles at police who responded with foam bullets in a street near Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium as Barcelona and Real Madrid faced off Wednesday in the first Clasico of the season.

IN PICS: Dozens injured in clashes outside Barcelona's Camp Nou during El Clasico
Disturbances outside Camp Nou Stadium led to dozens of injuries and arrests. Photos: AFP

Forty-six people were lightly injured in the clashes, including eight who needed to be taken to hospital for extra care, local emergency services said.    

Nine people were arrested, Catalonia's regional police force said. They face charges of affront to authority and causing public disorder.   

The protesters, many of them carrying Catalan separatist flags, began setting up barricades in the middle of the street, which they then set on fire after police arrived in dozens of vans, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.   

Demonstrators rocked a police van and took down street signs that they added to the barricade, while some people sought shelter inside a bar.    

Calm returned to the street as fans began to leave the stadium at the end of the match, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

Police closed the south exits of the stadium leading to the street where the clashes took place and asked fans to leave the venue through the north exits for “security reasons”.   

These were the first violent incidents in Catalonia since October when Spain's top court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders over their role in a failed 2017 bid for independence, triggering days of protests that sometimes ended in clashes with police.  

The original fixture in October had to be postponed due to the violent demonstrations across the wealthy northeastern region.    

Inside the stadium thousands of fans held up blue banners with the words 'Spain, sit and talk' which were given to supporters outside the grounds and also carried the words, 'Freedom, rights, self-determination', as well as the slogan of Democratic Tsunami, the protest group promoting the cause of Catalan independence that organised the demonstration.   

Protesters had begun gathering at the four corners of the stadium, blocking traffic, four hours before kick-off. Nearly 5,000 people surrounded the stadium, according to police.

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