Barcelona taking bus to Italy for 1st leg of Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan

Ash cloud forces Barcelona to take bus to Italy

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona’s players are traveling by bus to Milan for the first leg of the Champions League semifinal against Inter on Tuesday because of air travel disruptions caused by Iceland’s volcanic eruption.

The squad was driving 394 miles on Sunday to Cannes, France, where it will spend the night, the club reported on its Web site. It will then travel the remaining 218 miles to Milan on Monday.

Airports across the north of Spain had reopened after being shut throughout Sunday morning due to the ash cloud, but airports in northern Italy were still closed on Sunday afternoon.

The cloud from the eruption in Iceland also affected the Boston Marathon and the final round of the FINA Diving World Series.

Moroccan Olympian Abdellah Falil withdrew from the marathon after his trans-Atlantic flight was repeatedly canceled because of the ash cloud.

The diving had been scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Sheffield, England. It has been moved Veracruz, Mexico, where the second leg concluded Saturday.

A couple of Serie A clubs took longer than usual to travel to their games Sunday because the ash shut down aviation in northern Italy. For its game against Catania, Siena had to travel part of the way to Sicily by bus, then got a flight from Rome. Fiorentina took a train to Milan, then made its way to Bergamo by bus.

Also, the Japanese round of the MotoGP motorcycle world championship has been postponed because of air travel disruptions caused by Iceland’s volcanic eruption.

Officials at the Motegi circuit north of Tokyo said the race, scheduled for April 25, has been postponed and a formal announcement would be made later on Monday.

The race, the second of 17 MotoGP events, is expected to be postponed until October. Defending world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy won the season-opening race in Qatar on April 11 and leads the standings with 25 points. The next race is scheduled for May 2 in Spain.