RFEF accommodate http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 to waive off possible fixture boycott – La Liga News
La Liga champions Barcelona are receiving preferential treatment to accommodate their hectic fixture schedule. The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has twice moved La Blaugrana’s Copa del Rey Round-of-32 fixture in this regard.
The governing body is trying to adjust last year’s runners-ups to avoid the complete deletion of the proposed fixture, something which has happened before.
Primera Division clubs enter the cup competition in the Round-of-32, and the matches are scheduled to be held between December 13 and 15. However, the Catalan giants take part in the Club World Cup at the same time and are unavailable for these dates.
RFEF agreed to change the fixture schedule, rearranging the match for November 16.
This notion was rejected by the Catalan club, being two days before Spain are involved in an international friendly against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Scotland-c756 and Barca are sure to be left shorthanded again
in the future.
With players leaving on international duties, contesting the match with full strength will not be possible.
“We will not have enough players. We will be left with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051 and Fontas plus four from the B team. Seven. I will have no more,” Pep Guardiola recently warned.
In the wake of these developments, RFEF has decided to accommodate the European champions. The fixture has been brought back by a week to November 9. This should give the players ample time to recover before reporting for international duty.
Barcelona have accepted the latest suggestions, while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vicente-c36001 del Bosque, praised RFEF to avoid needless controversy.
The Camp Nou-based outfit was involved in a similar situation a decade ago. At that time, the governing body had failed to show similar flexibility, and Barcelona eventually forfeited the game.
Match in question was the double header against Atletico Madrid in Copa del Rey semi-final. After winning the first leg, the Catalans decided to take the 3-0 default defeat as a penalty owing to a schedule conflict.
As a result, Barca were thrown out of the competition and Atletico marched on to the final. RFEF decided to ban Los Cules from the next edition but the verdict was overturned following an appeal.
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