Barcelona are set to change their home kit for the visit of Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, in a move which will inevitably be seen as an endorsement of the Catalonia independence movement.

Their yellow and red change kit features the colours of the Catalan flag, the Senyera. it will be the first time the club have sported the Senyera at Camp Nou since it was founded in 1899.

The defender Gerard Piqué joined a march for Catalan independence on Thursday and tweeted a picture of himself together with son Milan.

The club, however, have attempted to distance themselves from suggestions that the kit change marks support for the Catalan independence.

A statement read: “The Senyera shirt is not being worn because of the 11 September [National Day] – we are doing it to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the fall of Barcelona at the hands of the troops of Philip V and the French in 1714.”