Uproar as "El Clasico" scheduled for a Monday 12/11/2010 |
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The Spanish "Clasico" match between Barcelona and Real Madrid has been controversially scheduled for Monday November 29, the head of the company that owns the television rights to La Liga has announced.
“This date is the most reasonable one from a sporting and civic point of view,” Jaume Roures, president of Mediapro, told radio station RAC1.
Roures revealed that it was impossible to play the match on Sunday November 28 because that is the date of the Catalan regional elections, in which voting would take place until the evening.
He said that “we have to respect the 80,000 people who will be working in the elections” counting the votes into the night.
Barcelona, meanwhile, did not want “El Clasico” on Saturday November 27 because it would give the team one day less recovery than Real from midweek Champions League matches.
However, players and officials of both clubs are not happy about playing the game on a Monday at 9pm for the first time.
Barca stars Xavi Hernandez and Victor Valdes said last week that Monday was not an appropriate day for “El Clasico”.
And Real’s general director Jorge Valdano said that playing on Monday “would be the best way to devalue the match”.
“El Clasico” always brings the whole of Spain to a standstill, with around half of the national population following the game either on television or radio.
Monday night matches were originally tried in Spain between 1996 and 1998, but were very unpopular with fans and players. They have been brought back this season mainly with a view to increasing international television audiences for La Liga.
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