Rarely passes a day without controversy in football, and on Friday Osasuna made the decision to dispute the result of their 3-0 defeat against Barcelona. Los Rojillo has submitted an official complaint to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), claiming that Inigo Martinez, who started and played the full game, was not eligible to play.
Their claim depends on a FIFA regulation that states that players who are injured and who miss international competitions are not allowed to play for their club side in the five days after the last match for their nation in that international window. Martinez was originally called by Spain, but was then released after an injury during Barcelona's victory over Atletico Madrid. However, the Osasuna collision came only four days after Spain had defeated the Netherlands on penalties in the Nations League.
According to Catalunya Radio, Barcelona was aware of the possible violation of these regulations before the Osasuna game. They were warned of the possibility and therefore contacted legal experts in the area, and after consultation the conclusion was that Barcelona was good to stand in line with Martinez in their side.
The 'Defense' of Barcelona relies on a warning in the article explaining whether the federation agrees with the club in question to release the player, then the regulations are no longer in the game. Their are precedents where similar professions have also been rejected.
That said, Osasuna has distinguished the case of Martinez from the treatment of Bryan Zaragoza, their player and three players under 21 who released for Barcelona Duty: Gerard Martin, Pablo Torre and Fermin Lopez. In the latter case, Spain announced their release, while manager Luis de la Fuente noted that Martinez was not present because of an injury, and Barcelona also issued a medical report about Martinez's injury, but he was not judged by the Spanish medical team.
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