Real Madrid grounded as Storm Filomena batters capital
Real Madrid players and staff are stuck on the runway at Madrid's Barajas airport as historic snowfall in the capital causes widespread travel disruption.
Real Madrid are grounded at Barajas airport in the Spanish capital ahead of their scheduled game against Osasuna in Pamplona with a huge snowstorm causing travel disruption across Spain. Zinedine Zidane’s side boarded a flight to Navarre on Friday afternoon but according to the latest reports remain stranded at Barajas with the capital experiencing a deluge of snow not seen in years.
Players and staff have been left far from amused over the whole affair, with question marks surrounding the viability of staging the match in El Sadar being raised earlier this week by meteorologists. Navarre is expected to bear the brunt of Storm Filomena and it is anticipated several games across the country will be postponed this weekend.
Real Madrid source: "It's crazy"
“We don’t know what time we’ll arrive, or if we can even leave,” a Real Madrid source told AS. “We may arrive very late and the game could be postponed from Saturday to Sunday because of the storm. It’s crazy.”
Real Madrid are angry with LaLiga for asking Zidane’s side to travel at 6pm on Friday in an attempt to sneak out before the worst of the storm arrived over the capital, AS understands. Officials at Barajas have told Real Madrid’s expedition that it is a matter of waiting until the storm subsides so that workers can de-ice the runway but have no provided no timescale for that eventuality with the weather forecast predicting little let-up in the snowfall, which could dump up to 20cm on Madrid overnight.