Real Madrid ask to delay LaLiga opener due to CWC

Real Madrid have asked LaLiga for their league opener against Osasuna to be rescheduled because of their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, sources have told ESPN.

Madrid are due to face Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabéu on Aug. 19.

Xabi Alonso’s side take on Paris Saint-Germain in Wednesday’s Club World Cup semifinal in New Jersey.

It means Madrid will not have the minimum of six weeks — three weeks rest and a minimum three weeks of preseason training — between tournaments that the Spanish Players’ Union (AFE) had agreed with LaLiga as well as with Atlético Madrid and Madrid, the two Spanish clubs competing in the Club World Cup.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has been a vocal critic of the expanded Club World Cup, claiming that it should be eliminated as it affects “the entire ecosystem of national leagues, especially in Europe.”

The players’ union informed ESPN that it send a letter on Monday to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), to LaLiga, to Real Madrid and to Osasuna to remind them of the importance of the rest and a proper preseason with regards to player health.