Real Madrid call out LaLiga: ‘The team won’t play again unless these conditions are met’

‘Los Blancos’ have brought out the heavy artillery. First up was the club’s official television channel who stated: “Real Madrid will never play a game again without 72 hours of rest”.

In his post match press conference after the Villarreal game, head coach, Carlo Ancelotti also repeated the warning: “This is the last time we’re going to play a game without a 72 hour break. We’ll never do it again. We’ve asked LaLiga twice to change the schedule and nothing has happened. This is the last time,” said the Italian.

The episode seems to have opened a ‘can of worms’ as it appears there is no hard and fast regulation outlining when a team should play in relation to rest.

LaLiga’s position

LaLiga maintains that the limit is not those 72 hours and that there is no specific time figure in the pre-established rules. There is an unwritten law of not scheduling matches with less than 48 hours between them but there is nothing in the official regulations.

66 hours passed since between Madrid’s penalty win over Atletico on Wednesday and the 6:30 (CET) kick-off time for the match 28 LaLiga game against Villarreal on Saturday. LaLiga also state that FIFA does not textually state a hard and fast 72 hour minimum rule. Player’s association FIFPro, International Federation of Professional Footballers' Associations (and their Spanish counterpart AFE) also have a recommendation on the matter and this relates to the 72 hour time-frame, but once again it’s no more than a recommendation.

Time change request?

In his press conference after Saturday’s match, Ancelotti revealed that Real Madrid had requested a change of date for the match on two occasions.

LaLiga, when asked about the double change requested by Real Madrid, indicated that when the date and time of the match were set on February 25, no request was made. They also noted that on other occasions, Real Madrid acted in advance and requested certain times. These requests were met by the Employers' Association. However, for the moment, they have not commented on their refusal to change the date for the match at La Cerámica.

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