As happened last season, the league Clásico in Montjuïc will be at the infamous 4:15 p.m. slot. A soporific time made famous by La2 documentaries, and not precisely for keeping those who are digesting lunch awake while sitting on the couch at home. It's a complicated time, right after lunch, on a Sunday, when meals tend to be more copious than the rest of the week. It's not the time to sit in front of the TV and get nervous. Holiday afternoon meals should be calm, relaxed, and with a FC Barcelona - Real Madrid and more than half the league at stake, next Sunday's won't be peaceful at all.
Call me old-fashioned, but for this type of match, nothing beats the 9 p.m. slot. Someone who is already past forty remembers how in the 80s and 90s the Clásicos were always played at night. It was, of course, the match of the day, and whether at Camp Nou or Santiago Bernabéu, it was always played in the prime-time slot. Saturday for free on regional channels, or Sunday for a fee on the formerly called Canal Plus, but never at a different time than what a match of this caliber deserved.
Playing a match like this at 4:15 p.m. is a real attack on soccer. Especially if it's played in Montjuïc. At that time of the afternoon, if the day dawns sunny in Barcelona, half the field will be in sun and the other half in shadow, affecting the players. The same will happen with the stands, with half the audience having difficulty seeing what really happens on the field due to the direct impact of the sun. And, of course, those watching the match from their homes won't have the same visibility as if the match were played at night under artificial lighting. The result? Everyone loses. Or almost everyone, because in China they will be able to follow it right at dinner time.
Given that, due to contractual issues, one of the league Clásicos has to be played at siesta time, so that in different parts of the world it can be watched without coinciding with the early morning, let it be the first leg, as happened last season. Three always important points would be at stake, but not half the league as this time. But until this happens, and the Barça - Madrid at 4:15 p.m. can be played in the final rounds of the championship, we will always run the risk of having to bite our nails as dessert on a Saturday or Sunday. Cursed be the time this was allowed. And cursed be the time of the next Clásico.