Why are Real Madrid playing Celta Vigo on a Friday?

This week could go down as one of the strangest in Real Madrid’s history, with the LaLiga giants not playing for two consecutive weekends. Instead, Álvaro Arbeloa’s team played their most recent fixture at home against Getafe on Monday, while their next game is set for Friday at Celta Vigo.

Why the odd schedule?

The unusual Monday-to-Friday setup is due to a couple of factors.

Madrid, given their global stature, usually get the prime-time weekend slot, which locally is around 9 p.m. and 3 p.m. Eastern time. In Spain, though, games are staggered across the weekend to maximize TV audiences. Match day begins Friday evening with one game, followed by four games per day over Saturday and Sunday, and concludes with a fixture on Monday.

Some lower-profile clubs inevitably end up playing more on Mondays and Fridays, the non-prime-time TV slots. But in the interest of fairness, every club must play at least one Monday night during the season, and it was Real Madrid’s turn against Getafe.

The reason Real Madrid play this Friday

Despite having played on Monday, Los Blancos were happy to take the next game in the Friday slot because of what comes next week.

The Celta-Madrid clash was originally scheduled for Sunday, March 8, but was moved up two days to Friday to accommodate the first leg of the 15-time European champions’ Champions League round-of-16 tie against Manchester City on Wednesday, March 11.

LaLiga generally tries to ensure its clubs have the best possible conditions for European competition and was happy to give Real Madrid a little extra time to rest and prepare for Pep Guardiola’s side.

March: a month of high stakes

March promises to be hugely important for Madrid. They face a four-point gap to league leaders Barcelona amid injury and selection challenges. In addition to two games against City, they will also take on Atlético Madrid in a high-stakes league derby at the Bernabéu.

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