LThe date and schedule of the Derby sparked controversy from the moment they met, due to the fact that Atletico had two fewer days to prepare it than Real Madrid, those who mediated between the egg match against Alaves, played on Tuesday, and the visit of rojiblanca to Vigo, which took place on Thursday. But this was referring to the’before’. Once the rivalry duel is played, it’s time for the Champions League. There is also room for discussion there: It is not customary that the teams with the highest continental competition are put on the horizon at the previous meeting of the domestic championship on Sunday at 21.00.
In fact, this cannot be done directly if the Champions League match is played on Tuesday. But this is not the case. Both Ancelotti’s and Simeone’s teams have Wednesday on the agenda, both at home, to face the former against Lille, to face the latter against Benfica. So the organizer understood that the date of the league is suitable, tomorrow, which will have only two more teams out of 36 playing in the Europa group stage. And in both cases, a few hours before the ball starts rolling in the Metropolitano. Girona will visit Celta at 14: 00 and Aston Villa (the only foreign example) will play at home against Ipswich at 15: 00.
Indeed, by the time these lines are published, up to ten teams will already be waiting for their commitment to the Champions League, having attended the domestic competition on Friday. Ukraine, France (in two cases: Brest and Paris Saint-Germain), Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, according to the schedules, decided to schedule matches with the participating teams on Friday. In Spain, however, the Valladolid-Mallorca match was played. It is true, on the other hand, that the eighth day of our league would have happened to the seventh day if it were a one-time interval date, at a very hectic start to the season.
The bulk of the continental participation remains for Saturday. Up to 22 teams will take to the pitch to play for points before focusing on the Champions League meeting. There will be two direct matches, Bayern-Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and Bologna-Atalanta in Italy, in a set of matches that starts at 15.00 in Italy and ends at 21.30 in Portugal (Especially with the red and white competitor). The only Spanish team that was awarded that day from the sidelines is Barcelona, which comes to Pamplona with the idea of preserving its full-fledged domestic victories… Before the search for the first European on Tuesday against the young boys.
Javier Tebas, the president of Liga, specifically alluded to the tournaments organized by UEFA when he wanted to explain the Derby schedule: “there are many midweek days and European competitions. There are teams that play from Thursday to Sunday and it is considered that it is a sufficient rest.That’s right.”, Then the speech of the Supreme Leader of the football Employers ‘Federation hinted at the” audio-visual decisions ” that seem to be at the origin of the explanation: It is a priority that the league tables respond to the interests of televisions with rights, beyond that they harm the Spanish teams in a sporting way. What result they achieved after that is still unknown, but the fact is that Atletico and Real Madrid will go to the continental front with less comfort than their rivals.
The derby will end around 23.00, so there will be less than 72 until the duel of Champions. Monday will serve only for refresher training for those who have minutes in the capital and Tuesday will be the day of the previous one already, with excursions involved for both (UEFA obliges to travel one day in advance, although there are exceptions that confirm the rule). After the Champions League, there will still be a new domestic match before the break for the national teams, in this case with less rest for Real Madrid (they host Villarreal on Saturday) compared to Atletico (they visit Real on Sunday). Be that as it may, eggs and eggs will close this weekend. It will be the last in Europe.
