Barça turn their back on Tebas' Miami proposal
A kick where it hurts... The proposed LaLiga game between Girona and Barcelona will not be staged in Miami but at Montilivi. Barça have backed down from the initiative citing a lack of general consensus from the governing bodies in question for the game to go ahead in the US. The decision is coherent and measured from the Catalan outfit and the club does agree with the push from Tebas to grow LaLiga but not in the manner in which it's happening. A common agreement failed to be reached and will be warmly greeted by the many detractors who found the move somewhat blasphemous and one that would distort the traditional league format of home and away games.
Tebas-Rubiales
The communique issued by Barça was delivered as Tebas arrived at Monday's Gala de As, which set about honouring the role and success of women in sport. The head of LaLiga politely requested to be excused with a deluge of calls to his mobile phone as the news broke. It was a good thing that Luis Rubiales wasn't on the same table with the head of the FA being ruled out of the event with flu, the same flu that caused him to miss Sunday nights River-Boca Copa Libertadores match at the Santiago Bernabeu. I missed him being at the gala on Monday and would loved to been able to get both men to raise their glasses and look to working together next year. A photo that would have no doubt been our first cover of 2019.
Off-guard
Instead, Monday night's announcement from Barcelona, certainly caught Tebas off-guard and was a shot in the arm for Rubiales, who was later interviewed on the phone on the late night El Larguero radio show and presented a long list of arguments against Tebas' initiative. He was well within his right to lash out, as Tebas put this move together without involving or consulting the Spanish FA, a reckless line of action from the league president. It still bothers me that these two bright, albeit impulsive men fail to see eye-to-eye and hold an unwillingness to work together. The sharing of monies generated by the game is one of their major bones of contention and to be honest with so much money flowing into the game, I'm confounded that this is still an area of conflict. I'm still ambitious that I'll get to take that photo though, but it may take another year before it finally materialises.