Tensions over Catalan independence spill onto football pitch

FILE PHOTO - Football Soccer - Barcelona v Paris St Germain - UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg - The Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain - 8/3/17

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Tensions around Catalonia's upcoming independence referendum have spilled onto the soccer pitch in Spain after a warning from the country's national football league that one of its crown jewels, FC Barcelona, would be expelled if the region seceded.

Catalonia is home to the world's second most-valuable club, with five-times European champions Barca a mainstay of Spain's La Liga whose boss, Javier Tebas, has said the club would not be allowed to remain in the league in the event of secession.