One of the talk points this week in Spain was rest periods between games, after Carlo Ancelotti had fueled a furious debate by commenting that Real Madrid would no longer play if they didn't have at least 72 hours between games. La Liga President Javier Tebas did not waste time criticizing Ancelotti and Real Madrid, while the Union of the Spanish player supported the idea.
Ancelotti was furious after the Real Madrid game was planned on Saturday evening instead of Sunday after their game with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. Los Colchoneros was able to play against Barcelona on Sunday. Los Blancos has played more than three days of rest than Barcelona, but Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Athletic Club have done this many occasions because of their involvement in the Europa League of Conference League. Only playing on a Monday or on Sunday evening would prevent this from being the case when there are European collisions.
For his part, Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini had little sympathy for Ancelotti and his former club.
“Coaches do not have the authority to say when we play and when we don't do that. This is the 8th or 9th time this year that we played before 72 hours have passed and we did not complain. I think it could have been fairer and we could have played later, but I don't think the rules are my task,” said Pellegrini Cadena Ser.
“The truth is that there is a lot of talk about rest periods; Thursday took their toll on Sunday. But we played and pulled through without apologies. It was a strange first half, but in the second half we had the football and the legs to turn the score.”
The real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil was much more sympathetic with his Italian counterpart.
“I think it was a moment of anger. But as a result of this barbarism that both Real Madrid and we have suffered, I think we are the two teams that played the most successive games, most of the games with the least rest, I would say we are more. It is true that they are not very difficult to compete in this way.”
“If Real Madrid complains, imagine which 19 games every three days at a maximum level of question means for Real Madrid. We have come up today as we did. Seven or eight absence and some on the couch that could not be called,” sympathized Alguacil, as cited by MD.
'I don't know if [the ultimatum] Is the most sensible we have to do now, when we already know the schedule that we have. There is time to talk. And who has to decide must try to make the best decision to prevent this from happening, but it is crazy. It's time to get ahead, not to apologize. “
On the other hand, Athletic Club coach Ernesto Valverde said that no discoveries were made outside the comments of Ancelotti, only that it was just a problem because it was he said it.
“Then there are a few that we should not have played. We play in Europe on Thursday, usually at nine at night, and we end up at eleven. It is not a rest period of 72 hours. We played one day at nine and then on Sunday at two in the afternoon,” Valverde told Sport.
“You ask me that question because it is Real Madrid. It happens regularly; it's just the impact it has because Real Madrid said it. It is true that their match against Villarreal could have been today, but it depends on the television channels. La Liga has to solve that. It happened with real sociedad, betis and our all season.”
Real Madrid plays their next two games after the international break with less than 72 hours between them, while Los Blancos is at home in La Liga and then organizes Real Sociedad in the second stage of their Copa del Rey Semi-final on Tuesday. However, Tebas claimed that this was the choice of the club, who were offered an earlier lock, but wanted more time to recover from the international break.
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