Once again, La Liga has made a decision that harms FC Barcelona. Repeating a pattern that is already starting to generate discontent at the blaugrana club.
The scheduling of matchday 29 of LaLiga has been particularly controversial. Barça will be the only Copa del Rey semifinalist to play their match on Sunday, while the rest of the teams will play their games on Saturday.
This situation directly affects the preparation of Hansi Flick's team. On Wednesday, April 2, they will visit Cívitas Metropolitano to play the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals against Atlético de Madrid. The tie is level after the 4-4 draw in the first leg, so preparation will be key to achieving a positive result.
Barça, Once Again Against the Calendar
The controversy arises because La Liga has scheduled the match between Barça and Girona for Sunday, March 30 at 4:15 p.m. This means one less day of rest compared to Atlético de Madrid, who will visit Espanyol on Saturday, the 29th at 4:15 p.m.
But Barça is not the only team playing in the Copa semifinals, and this is where the situation becomes even more striking. Both Real Madrid and Real Sociedad, the other semifinalists, will also play their matches on Saturday:
Real Madrid - Leganés → Saturday, the 29th at 9:00 p.m.
Real Sociedad - Valladolid → Saturday, the 29th at 4:15 p.m.
This means that all the teams fighting for a spot in the Copa final will have one more day of rest than Barça. An imbalance that puts the blaugrana team at a disadvantage.
An Aggravating Factor: No Midweek Football
The discontent at FC Barcelona increases when considering another important factor. The previous week there is an international break, so there are no midweek matches.
This means that La Liga had room to better balance the schedules. They could have even moved one of the matches to Friday, the 28th, ensuring that all semifinalists had the same recovery conditions.
However, La Liga chose to schedule Barça's match on Sunday. This means that the team will have 24 hours less to prepare for a decisive match in the Copa del Rey. Additionally, they will be the only ones playing with extra pressure, as their LaLiga rivals will have played earlier and could have gained points.
This is not the first time Barça finds itself in this situation. The previous matchday, the match against Real Sociedad was also delayed by a day, affecting the team's preparation for their Champions League clash against Benfica.
Now, history repeats itself, and the feeling in the Barça environment is that arbitrary scheduling decisions continue to harm the team at key moments of the season.
A Semifinal with Added Pressure
Barça needs to win at Metropolitano if they want to qualify for the Copa del Rey final. Since the 4-4 draw in the first leg forces the blaugrana to seek victory on rival ground.
Having 24 hours less rest than Atlético de Madrid is a considerable disadvantage. Especially considering that the team will have to travel to Madrid to play the match.
From the club, although no official statements have been made on the matter. There is concern about the accumulation of decisions affecting the team at key moments. With La Liga at stake, the Champions League on the horizon, and the Copa in its decisive phase, every detail counts, and in this case, Barça clearly feels disadvantaged.
It remains to be seen if this situation affects the team's performance. But what is clear is that La Liga has once again put Barça at a disadvantage at a crucial moment.