In the middle of the Crunch with Barcelona vs. Osasuna, France gives PSG a rest between the first and second stage of the Champions League.
The LFP has decided to give the Luis Enrique team a break so that they are fresh for the quarterfinals.
Relo's reporter, Jonas Perez, makes his opinion clear:
It will not happen in Spain. Not even if we wanted to, because the schedule does not allow it. But it will be in France.
The LFP postponed the match between Nantes and PSG on 13 April to give the Parisians a rest in the middle of the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Aston Villa. This measure was previously implemented in other seasons and does nothing more than to guarantee the well -being of the clubs, so that their players arrive with new legs for continental qualifications. A method that seeks the public interest, that the international prestige of French football is increasing, and that (not this season) could even contribute to enjoying an extra place.
The Nantes-PSG League match would be played during the weekend by the first stage of the quarterfinals of the Champions League and the second stage, now in consecutive weeks at the request of UEFA. In fact, the semi -final will also be played. However, that Ligue 1 match is not played until April 22, the Tuesday of the following week, when there are no continental matches and it is reserved as an empty date in the French league.
It is still surprising that although one of the five major European competitions enables itself to deliberately and voluntarily postpone a competition to give one of his teams a rest, the Spanish competition is entangled in a deep planning crisis to plan last year's competition between Barcelona and Osasuna in Montjuic. The match could not be played because of the death of one of the doctors of the Barça team, only a few minutes before the kick-off and was left in anticipation of the requests of the clubs and the decision of the competition judge.
The problem is that the alternatives were minimal because Barcelona is still present in all three competitions and it would not be surprising, given their level, if they reach the final of the Copa del Rey or the Champions League. That said, if that happens, the only opportunity to restore that match to play between match days 37 and 38 of the competition, something unlikely because they want to respect the spirit of the tournament by playing the last two games together. It would be extremely strange if, with only one match left, one of the LaLiga opportunities and another who could fight for Europe or even have three points in hand.
In view of this complex situation, the competition judge has decided to plan the match for Thursday 27 March, just after the end of the international break. This step will be a successive because other competition matches have to be postponed. This is a serious problem for Barcelona, which would have a Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday series, with the second stage of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday. Moreover, they would be without Raphinha and Arajo because they play with their national team in the South American windows.
But as the competition rightly states, it is impossible to predict the match date based on the potential eliminations of Barcelona because they do not necessarily have to happen. So then? Given that the match between MatchDay 37 and MatchDay 38 is excluded, this is the only option that has been appealed by both clubs. In a few days the judge will make the final decision.
In the meantime, an oasis in Ligue 1. PSG does not play in the quarterfinals of the Champions League to give itself an even better chance to continue to the semi -final. For example, this happened last season for PSG-Barcelona. An unusual scenario in Spain, plagued by a horrible schedule. It is true that they play there with the advantage that they only have 18 teams in their table, a solution that is of course not on the table in the Spanish competition.
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