Akin Ayomide
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said Tuesday that the plan to take Barcelona’s La Liga match against Villarreal to Miami is “adulterating” the competition.
La Liga announced they were moving the game to the United States in December, which will be the first European League fixture to be held abroad.
“It’s totally adulterating the competition,” Courtois told a news conference.
“It’s easy to talk about the NFL and the NBA (which move locations), they have 82 games and it doesn’t change anything for them, and in the NFL it’s voted for by the owners of the teams…
“Here it’s the opposite… they decided to do it and it adulterates the competition.”
Courtois said Barcelona would gain an advantage by facing Villarreal at a neutral stadium, rather than in a normal away game.
“Villarreal away is a difficult game… everyone should play at home and away, apart from for force majeure.”
The Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) organized protests against the game being moved last weekend, with players from every team not moving for 15 seconds at the start of each league match.
However, the protests at the start of each match were not all shown on television broadcasts.
“Hiding it… is censorship and manipulation, and that’s not good at all,” added Courtois.
Madrid have expressed their disapproval of the match being moved and Spanish media have reported that the club have filed a complaint to the Spanish government.
Coach Xabi Alonso reiterated he is also against the Miami switch.
“My opinion is clear… the club is defending their interests and we will see what happens,” said the coach.
Belgian stopper Courtois is set to make his 300th appearance for the club on Wednesday when Real Madrid host Juventus in the Champions League.
“I’m very proud of reaching that number. When you’re a kid, you dream of playing a game for Real Madrid, and tomorrow it will be 300,” said the 33-year-old.”