MADRID.- A strong opposition in Spain, led by the footballers and the real Madridcaused the dream ofLaLiga to celebrate the Villarreal–FC Barcelona in Miami on December 20.
On Tuesday night, the employers’ association revealed that the promoter, the Relevent company, canceled the clash due to “the uncertainty generated in recent weeks.”
Protests at all the championship matches last weekend and clashes with the white club and the footballers’ association (AFE) preceded the announcement.
For this reason, LaLiga made it clear that the decision was made by Relevent, which sent its version to the American media The Athletic shortly after.
“Given the current uncertainty in Spain, there is insufficient time to properly execute an event of this scale,” he said.
Irresponsible
The company also highlighted that “it would also be irresponsible to start selling tickets without the meeting being confirmed.”
This Wednesday, the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebasdescribed it as a “lost opportunity for Spanish football”, which would have served “to advance, project itself to the world and strengthen its future.”
Later, Villarreal expressed their discomfort, while regretting the “mismanagement” of LaLiga and the lack of respect for announcing it coinciding with their clash against Manchester City in the Champions League.
Barcelona expressed on Tuesday that it “respects” and “acquiesces” to the annulment; On the other hand, in the same line as the employers’ association, they deplored “the lost opportunity to expand the image of the competition in a strategic market.”
Players against
The first to oppose was Real Madrid when it appealed to the Spanish government in August – still without a response -, after the Spanish Federation (RFEF) approved then forwarding the request to UEFA and FIFA.
The white club asked the competent state authority not to grant the necessary administrative permission without unanimous consent of all the clubs in the league and to the football bodies that did not authorize it, as guarantors of the rules and integrity of the competitions.
Even so, UEFA approved on October 6 that its dispute be allowed as an exceptional measure, although it stressed its opposition.
It only took Tebas two days to make the match official, which caused criticism to multiply from the players, who criticized the lack of consensus for an initiative that goes against the integrity of the competition.
“I don’t like that we are going to play there and I don’t agree with this. It’s not fair for the competition,” Barcelona’s Dutch captain, Frenkie De Jong, even said.
On the rival side, everyone was united and both the Real Madrid coach, Xabi Alonso, and the players Dani Carvajal and Thibaut Courtois agreed on the diagnosis: the Miami match “adulterates the competition.”
“There has been no unanimity or consultation for it to be played on a neutral field,” Alonso said.
“Playing at home is not the same as playing away. Playing away from home in LaLiga is very complicated, as has happened to us against Real (Sociedad), Getafe. Villarreal away is difficult,” added Courtois.
Lack of transparency
In an unprecedented union, the footballers stayed still for the first 15 seconds of all the weekend’s matches, a gesture that the employers censored on the television broadcast, with overhead shots or from outside the stadiums, in addition to posting the slogan “Committed to peace”, implying that the protest had something to do with some conflict in the world.
“Given the lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence of the institution chaired by Tebas, the footballers spoke out unanimously on the field last day to send a powerful message: without footballers there is no football,” the AFE union claimed this Wednesday.
Another reason for conflict was the distribution of the money generated by the party in Miami.
While Barça claimed that it would serve to cover what they have lost by playing at the Johan Cruyff -6,000 spectators-, Villarreal stated that they were going to use it for their fans’ trips, which some clubs considered as a comparative grievance.
The case has reached the highest levels of the European Union and the Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef, was pleased with the decision: “A victory for the fans, the players and the traditions that make European football special.”
