Sevilla-Barcelona and Villarreal-Alavés postponed
Two LaLiga fixtures scheduled for matchday 4 have been postponed after CONMEBOL's fixture schedule was extended.
LaLiga has postponed two fixtures for this weekend. Sevilla-Barcelona and Villarreal-Alavés, both matches from matchday 4 in LaLiga have been affected by the departure of players to CONMEBOL national teams and their subsequent late return. Spain's Higher Sports Council granted the injunction to LaLiga after the refusal of the RFEF's Competition Committee to postpone the matches. Although the Sports Council has ruled in favour of LaLiga president Javier Tebas, the institution presided over by Luis Rubiales (Spanish FA) can present allegations.
Tight turnaround for LaLiga players
The extension of the international break for CONMEBOL countries (to eleven days and one more match) jeopardised the timely arrival of some of the players involved. According to LaLiga, this "affected the integrity of the competition", as the last match would be played in the early hours of Thursday morning. This complicated the return of the South American players. To solve this problem, Tebas decided to change the schedules of eight matches by postponing them and requesting the postponement of Sevilla-Barcelona and Villarreal-Alavés.
The Sevilla-Barcelona and Villarreal-Alavés matches could not be played on Sunday as they had Champions League matches on Tuesday. This request for postponement was denied by the RFEF, as they understood that this circumstance was not a force majeure. LaLiga appealed to the CSD (Sports Council), which granted the precautionary measure to be able to postpone them. Tebas has stated that there are gaps in the fixture calendar to be able to eventually play these matches and that he will talk to the clubs involved to reach a consensus.
Players have weekend off
Up to 13 teams and 28 players are affected by the extension of the World Cup qualifier period in South America. In the case of the postponed matches, Papu Gómez, Montiel and Acuña were involved for Sevilla, Araújo for Barcelona and Foyth and Estupiñán for Villarreal. These players will not have to play this weekend following the decision to postpone their fixtures.
LaLiga players called up by CONMEBOL national teams
Argentina: Rulli, Montiel, Pezella, Foyth, Acuña, De Paul, Gido Rodríguez, Papu Gómez and Correa.
Brazil: Casemiro, Militao and Vinicius.
Chile: Claudio Bravo, Enzo Roco and Alarcón.
Ecuador: Estupiñán.
Paraguay: Alderete and Arzamendia.
Peru: Tapia and Abram.
Uruguay: Luis Suárez, Giménez, Araujo, Arambarri, Valverde, Brian Rodríguez and Maxi Gómez.
Venezuela: Machís and Alexander.