Last night, FC Barcelona won 3-0 against Osasuna in a postponed match of the 27th matchday of La Liga. A controversial match…
The FC Barcelona-Osasuna match continues to be the talk of the town. The match was originally scheduled for March 8th, but was canceled at the last minute following the tragic death of Barça doctor Carles Miñarro Garcia. After the match’s postponement, La Liga tried to find the best possible slot in the calendar. The Spanish football governing body ultimately decided to reschedule the delayed match on March 27th. This has left the Culés in a state of shock, as several Catalan players would barely have time to return from their national teams, such as Raphinha (Brazil) and Ronald Araujo (Uruguay).
Barça is angry
Barça, despite its requests, was not heard by La Liga. The match took place last night, and the outcome was positive for the Blaugranas, who won 3-0. They did, however, lose Dani Olmo to injury. But after the final whistle, the Barcelona players, who now overtake Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, poured their hearts out. This was the case for Jules Koundé. “It’s not normal. We’ve talked about it several times, about the schedule, about playing too many matches. I know that sometimes some people find it hard to understand. It’s true that we’re very lucky to do what we do. I consider myself lucky to live our passion, to make a good living. I also think it’s disrespectful to the club to postpone this match to this date.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter which club, Osasuna also had internationals like Budimir, who I faced and who didn’t get the necessary rest, and many other teammates. It doesn’t matter which club… Barcelona, Osasuna, or even Madrid when it happens to them. I think that beyond the lack of respect towards the clubs, it’s a lack of respect towards the players, because we have to understand that we are not machines.” His coach, Hans Dieter Flick, is also annoyed. “It wasn’t the best day to play, and we paid for it with Olmo’s injury. I leave with a bitter taste in my mouth. With this schedule, two weeks of injury represents a lot of games he could miss.”
Osasuna Considers Filing a Protest
Last night, it wasn’t just Barça that was unhappy. Osasuna was also very angry. “The Federation has decided this and there is no other choice but to play. It’s a carrot,” declared club president Luis Sabalza before the match. And the carrot is hard to swallow for Osasuna, who are considering filing a protest after the clash with FCB. Marca explains that “the Navarrese club’s legal department is considering whether to contest the match due to Iñigo Martínez’s poor lineup. The Pamplona-based club would be taking advantage of FIFA Article 5, which includes the time that must elapse before a player can return to play matches with his club after an injury that prevents him from playing with his team.”
The specific point of the regulation that is being discussed here is the following: “If a player does not participate or withdraws from the national team due to injury, he cannot play with his club for five days following the last match of the international window, unless the national federation expressly releases the player.” Regarding Iñigo Martinez, who was out of the Roja, Spain played against the Netherlands on Sunday, four days earlier. Osasuna is therefore considering an appeal. Meanwhile, El Chiringuito believes that this should not impact Barça, who are very relaxed knowing that the player was recalled 11 days ago. To be continued…
Leave a Reply