Real Madrid have not been very happy in recent weeks, primarily in regards to refereeing decisions that they feel have gone against them. Now, there is another issue that has attracted the club’s annoyance.
On this occasion, it is La Liga that are to feel the wrath of Real Madrid – specifically, the club headed up by Florentino Perez is not happy with the recent fixture scheduling that was announced for matchday 28.
As per Diario AS, Real Madrid are angry at the decision of La Liga to schedule their away trip to Villarreal on 15th March, which is a Saturday, at 6.30pm CET. By comparison, the showdown clash between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, which will take place at the Metropolitano, is pencilled in for the next day at 9pm.
Three days before their tough match-up against Villarreal at La Ceramica, Real Madrid face Atleti in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. It means that they have only three days between the two matches, compared to four for their city rivals – and Barcelona have five, as their match against Benfica is on the Tuesday.
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti clashed publicly with La Liga president Javier Tebas this week, albeit the topic of discussion was not the fixture scheduling – although his topic is one that the Italian has been frustrated by in the past. The silver lining is that, for now, the first team squad is as healthy as it has been at any point this season, with only Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal as confirmed absentees for these upcoming matches.
It remains to be seen just how affected Real Madrid are by the quick turnaround between matches at the Metropolitano and La Ceramica. Their frustrations are understandable given that they are locked in an incredibly tight title race.
