El Clasico: Barcelona, Real chiefs reject venue switch

Political protests and the chaos that has ensued across Catalonia had threatened to force the switch of venue for the first Clasico of the season, yet both Barcelona and Real Madrid have rejected the proposal out of hand.

LaLiga made the request to the RFEF on Wednesday morning after images appeared on news stations on Tuesday evening of fires breaking out across the region, yet neither club believes the move is necessary.

Barcelona believes the match must be played at the Camp Nou, whilst Real Madrid is of the opinion that if there are such security risks then the match should be postponed entirely rather than merely moved.

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LaLiga’s request came somewhat out of the blue, with all parties involved in the match surprised by the news, even though Los Blancos are concerned about the political situation surrounding an already high-risk fixture.

Real Madrid believes that the fixture calendar established in June should be adhered to in order to avoid altering the fairness of the competition, and would only support a postponement of the match.

Both clubs have until Monday to present their cases to reject the switch, and Barcelona will no doubt point towards the clash against Las Palmas which was played behind closed doors as an example of the damage done to the game by poor prior planning.

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A possible postponement would then force the match to be played on a midweek date, something which television companies would not be particularly pleased with, with the impact of a match on the scale of the Clasico far greater for them than during a working week.

Unfortunately, as far as both teams are concerned, the decision may well be taken out of their hands with it possible the RFEF will sanction the stadium switch in spite of the refusal of both participants.