Real Madrid's game to go ahead, Atlético-Athletic postponed due to bad weather
There will be no arrivals at Barajas airport until after 10 am. Athletic plan to travel down to Madrid today. Mirandés-Rayo and Alcorcón-Albacete moved to Sunday.
The arctic weather has hampered this weekend's LaLiga fixtures. Real Madrid suffered problems after landing in Pamplona - they were stuck on their plane and unable to disembark for over three hours after arriving at 23:12 hours last night. That was just one of a number of incidents caused by the poor weather conditions across the country.
Athletic Club and Rayo Vallecano decided to delay their travel plans. Both LaLiga and the RFEF have set up crisis committees to deal with the situation. As of the moment, two second division games have been rescheduled for tomorrow - Mirandés-Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcón-Albacete. Rayo questioned LaLiga's decision to force them to travel to Miranda by road in spite of the treacherous state of the motorways exiting Madrid. Albacete meanwhile, saw their travel plans change by the hour - from travelling by coach to taking the high-speed AVE train to the capital. Both squads hope to arrive at some point on Saturday and be able to play their games on Sunday.
At the moment, there are no plans to postpone Osasuna's meeting with Real Madrid, even though snow is forecast in Pamplona today. Madrid requested to play the match at midday, rather than at the programmed time (21:00 hours). Athletic were due to set off from Bilbao early this morning to be in Madrid ahead of their game against Atlético at the Metropolitano (16:15 hours) as long as the conditions at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport had improved. Late last night, Aena announced that "all operations have been paralysed" delaying all incoming flights to Madrid until after 10 am. However, this morning, LaLiga took the decision to postpone the match.
LaLiga statement
"Given the exceptional situation caused by the storm across a large part of the Iberian peninsula, causing the closure of Madrid Barajas airport throughout the day, and the impossibility of having the pitch in optimal playing conditions, LaLiga, after contacting both clubs, have asked the Professional Competition Committee first thing this morning to postpone the match between Club Atletico de Madrid - Athletic Club initially scheduled for Saturday (16:15 CET) at the Wanda Metropolitano.
A new match date will be confirmed in the next coming days during one of the available slots in the competition calendar".
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