Why are Real Madrid playing against Real Sociedad on Friday?

Real Madrid playing on Friday is not a normal occurrence during a season. It happens just a few times per campaign at best, but this week is different for Los Blancos: against Real Sociedad (3 p.m. ET / noon PT), their schedule has been skewed.

Playing on a Saturday or Sunday evening in Spain - the regular timeslot for Madrid - means that TV audiences around the world are higher and LaLiga can take advantage of the numbers. A Friday night game is not prime-time television if one wants to project to a global audience, which just adds another layer to the mystery.

And the strangest thing of all? It was the league leaders themselves who asked to play on Friday. Here’s why...

Why are Real Madrid playing on Friday 26 April and not at the weekend?

Los Blancos are playing on Friday and not at the weekend at their own request to LaLiga. Carlo Ancelotti’s side travel to Munich early in the week in order to prepare for their Champions League semi-final tie against Bayern on Tuesday 30 April (3pm ET / noon PT), and every second counts for the side who need to rest, recover and train to get match fit once again.

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday at 9pm local time (3pm ET / noon PT), but that would have left Ancelotti and his staff less than 72 hours to travel back to the capital and prepare for the match in Germany.

However, the change has not gone down well in Spain: the problem is not isolated just to those travelling to the Reale Arena.

Just 8 days ago, LaLiga also rescheduled 5 other games, meaning fans who have travelled or are set to travel have had their matches moved by up to an entire day - a common occurrence in a country that does little to help those who actually go to the games.

One Valencia fan is even set to “present a formal complaint to LaLiga” as they have lost out on more than €500 ($536) due to hastily rebooked travel rearrangements.

The reason behind the league moving more than just the Madrid game is that their policy is not to allow games to overlap, like in other leagues that have simultaneous kick-off times, in order to allow for separate TV showings for all of them.