Barcelona and Real Madrid kickoff time set

A kick-off time has been confirmed for the clasico match between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

After much deliberation and disputes between Barcelona, Real Madrid, La Liga, and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), a time has been announced for El Clasico.

Spain’s biggest match will indeed take place on Wednesday, December 18 at 20:00 CET.

The match pinning the two biggest teams in Spain was set to take place in mid-October but was suspended following the protests in Catalonia after Catalan separatists were sentenced to nine years in prison.

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Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, cited safety concerns over the suspension despite no one from the government presenting any such concerns.

Barcelona and Real Madrid were tasked to agree to a new date and time which they did. The two sides agreed on December 18 but La Liga initially rejected the decision because the clubs wanted a later kick-off time while the league wanted an earlier time because they wanted to appeal to the Asian market.

ESPN Deportes report, “Both the managers and executives of Barcelona and Real Madrid have been in contact to strengthen their positions, taking into account that the games played during the week have two possible time slots, 19:00 or 21:00.”

In the end, the clubs got their wish and in the political battle between Tebas and Rubiales, it was Rubiales who got the upper hand this time.

While safety was the reason stated for a postponement, the real reason was Javier Tebas did not want Spain’s biggest game to be marred with political demonstrations inside the stadium.

Since it was to take place at the Camp Nou, there would have been no doubt that some sort of demonstration would have occurred. But in this match, they always do.

In an effort to depoliticize, Tebas achieved the opposite of what he was going for. He did not pull the wool over people’s eyes and simply created a headache for himself and the league.

With the club, and Rubiales, getting what they wanted, he lost any political points he hoped to collect.

Regardless, El Clasico now has an official kickoff time and if both teams stay at the pace they currently are, it will be a match that will determine who heads into the winter break in first place.