Barça clings to a Madrid precedent to change the date of the match against Osasuna

The controversy over the pending match between FC Barcelona and Osasuna for matchday 27 of LaLiga EA Sports is heating up and spreading. The RFEF has established that the match will take place next Thursday, March 27, disregarding the requests from both teams. On that date, the Catalans could be without up to 5 first-team players (Raphinha, Araujo, Fermín, Pablo Torre, and Gerard Martín), while the rojillos would have to visit Athletic Club on Friday the 28th, less than 24 hours later. A total chaos.

For this reason, the Blaugrana entity is preparing the appeal that it will send to the Appeals Committee to change the match day and avoid it being held on the date set by the Single Judge last Monday. The institution will base this request on two main aspects, the first being the fact of not having the aforementioned players available due to the international matches scheduled for these dates.

The Madrid precedent that Barça is holding onto

Additionally, the Catalans will also emphasize a precedent that justifies holding the match between the last and second-to-last matchday of the championship, which was the main idea of both Barça and Osasuna. In the 2016-2017 season, Real Madrid played a postponed match against Celta de Vigo between the last two dates of LaLiga, which was a crucial match for the outcome of the tournament.

After matchday 37 of that edition of the competition, both Barça and Madrid were tied at the top of the table with 87 points. Then, Zinedine Zidane's team ended up winning at Balaídos with a resounding 1-4, with a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo, a goal from Kroos, and another from Benzema, adding three points that ultimately were key to winning the league title that the whites lifted.

The stance of the Single Judge

According to 'Marca', this case was previously mentioned to the Single Judge, who decided to ignore this request. "Setting a date between the last and second-to-last matchday of the Championship is a possibility that this Judge categorically and absolutely rules out because it could cause evident harm to the other clubs competing in the tournament," the magistrate stated in his ruling.

"The last two matchdays are held at a unified time, and this aims to prevent situations of advantage by playing a postponed match knowing in advance the results obtained by competing teams regarding possible access to qualifying spots for the Championship title, European competition spots, relegation, etc.," he added.

The judge concluded his ruling by stating that "therefore, moving this match to the second-to-last matchday could undoubtedly generate competitive disadvantage and uncertainty, being detrimental to all teams involved, and consequently, to the principles and values of the competition itself."

Ironically, and according to the final determination of the judge, the fact of playing a match without five first-team players and, on the other hand, having to play a league match in less than 24 hours does not constitute any "competitive disadvantage and uncertainty. A farce.

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona will go to the last instances considering that it is possible to set the match on those dates and that not always the last two matchdays have been played in a unified calendar as it is not mandatory, holding onto the previously mentioned precedent between Celta and Real Madrid. Now, the ball is in the Appeals Committee's court.