The decision to use an alternative venue was taken by Real Madrid to complete the ongoing renovation at the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of schedule.
(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 12, 2020 a labourer walks outside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. - Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu will be used as a storage centre for medical equipment to help Spain's fight against the coronavirus, the club confirmed on March 26, 2020. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)
Spanish giants Real Madrid will not play their remaining La Liga matches at Santiago Bernabeu when the 2019-20 season resumes on June 11, confirmed the club president Florentino Perez in a press conference on Monday. They will host their games at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium at Valdebebas.
“We have made the decision to play in the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium in our Ciudad Real Madrid all the games in which we will play as the home team,” Goal.com quoted Perez as saying in a letter to club’s supporters.
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“The decision will allow us to advance in the works of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium,” he added.
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The decision to use an alternative venue was taken to complete the ongoing renovation at the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of schedule. The latest renovations at the stadium will see a retractable roof and a removable pitch to be used for events other than football matches.
La Liga has remained suspended since March due to the crisis caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. But with the number of fresh cases decreasing massively, Spain’s Higher Council of Sports (CSD) announced that it had agreed with the plans of the Royal Spanish Federation (REFF) to restart the top-flight league.
According to their announcement, the league would resume on June 11 with the Sevilla derby between Real Betis and Sevilla. The following weekends of June 13 and 14 would see the remaining matches of the round.
In the last few weeks, players have been slowly and steadily making their way back to their respective training grounds. What started with footballers practicing individually, last week became up to 10 players at a time and now, the number has risen up to 14.
“Our plan for kick-off times during the week would be to play in the afternoon or evening, between 7:30-8pm or 9:30-10pm.
“Over the weekend, there would be three slots: 5pm, 7:30 pm, 9:30 or 10 pm. It hasn’t been decided yet, we’re looking at it with our broadcasters.
“But obviously, we’d plan for those 5pm games to be those played up on Spain’s northern coast. Places like Bilbao and San Sebastian, Oviedo and Gijon in LaLiga SmartBank, Depor and Celta over in Galicia, where temperatures in June and July don’t exceed 28°C,” La Liga president Javier Tebas had said about the timings.
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