La Liga appeal new Barca-Real Madrid date

Madrid: La Liga have announced they will appeal in a legal court and to the Spanish Sports council against the decision by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to move the season’s first Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid to Dec. 18. The Competition Committee of the Spanish FA ruled on Wednesday that Barcelona’s home league game against Real Madrid would be rescheduled for Dec. 18, as was the request of the two clubs.

It was La Liga who last week requested the Spanish FA to postpone the Clasico, originally scheduled for Sunday at the Camp Nou, due to the social unrest in Catalonia. However, the Spanish FA turned down La Liga’s proposal to reverse the fixture and play the game at Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium instead.

A La Liga statement statement read: “In view of the resolution made by the Competition Committee and the documents in the report, La Liga has decided to appeal to the legal courts and to the Consejo Superior Deportes [Spain’s Sports Council].”

The ruling is expected to take months, meaning it will come long after the game is played.

The league said it didn’t ask for a stay on the match because that would only “generate uncertainty among fans in Spain and across the world” who want to see the game.

La Liga are opposed to the game being played on Wednesday, Dec. 18 as it is on a day when there are Copa del Rey games being played and it does not fall on a weekend, when they expect to reach a bigger number of global television audience.

La Liga believe the game should be played at the earliest possible date for the two teams and, after reviewing the calendar, that would be Dec. 4.

-ESPN FC