Real Madrid Unhappy With LaLiga Over Valencia Match Scheduling

Real Madrid will face Roma this Wednesday in matchday 2 of the Champions League. The duel promises to be extremely complicated for the Merengues, as Roma is a rival in great form and third in Serie A, just two points behind the leader (Inter Milan). Last Sunday, they held what would be their last training session before traveling to the Italian capital.

However, they trained again at Valdebebas on Tuesday before the flight. They preferred that to training at the Stadio Olimpico, something that was also seen during the last season, in which Xabi Alonso preferred not to train at Anfield and commented: "It is a decision of mine because we have to prepare for the match and we prefer to do it at our training complex, in our space, so that 200 cameras do not catch us."

What caused quite a bit of annoyance within the club, both among the staff and the players, even on the board itself, was the decision LaLiga made regarding the twelfth matchday of the competition. Let's remember that Madrid plays on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Athens against AEK (18:45 Spain time), a match corresponding to matchday 4 of the Champions League, because LaLiga has decided that the match against Valencia will be on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 21:00 Spain time.

With the merengues returning to Madrid in the early hours of Thursday, they would have that afternoon, if Mourinho decides on training, and Friday to prepare for the match against Valencia. According to sources close to the club, this decision has caused "enormous unease and surprise" among both the players and the staff, since they are directly affected.

Club members say there would be no problem scheduling the match for Sunday, since there are no European competitions or Copa del Rey matches the following week. In addition, the other four teams playing in the Champions League were scheduled to play on Sunday. Betis travels to Elche, Villarreal hosts Getafe, while Atletico de Madrid hosts Barcelona.

Another important fact is that the Blaugranas, the Colchoneros, and Villarreal play their Champions League match a day before Madrid, on Tuesday, Nov. 3. In addition, they play at home, so travel is not a factor. Also, after that matchday, there will be a new international break, so at Valdebebas they don't understand why the Madrid-Valencia match cannot be played until Sunday, giving their players one more day of rest. What a mess.