The much anticipated first El Clasico of the season between arch-rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, which was scheduled to be played on 26 October has been postponed due to the protests and unrest in the Catalan region of North –East Spain.
It is worth highlighting that violent protests have been taking place in this particular region after nine Catalan political and social leaders were imprisoned since they were responsible for organising an independence referendum in 2017.
According to a report carried by reliable football website Goal, city of Barcelona has been witnessing violent clashes between the people protesting the decision and security forces for four consecutive days now. Moreover, a protest rally has been planned in the city on 26 October- the day in which the much-anticipated match was supposed to be played.
After this, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has decided to postpone the game. Initially, 16 December was proposed as the rescheduled date but it has been turned down by La Liga officials since they want to keep the high voltage encounter on a weekend.7 December has been proposed as yet another alternative and it remains to be seen if the match is finalised on the 7th since other matches need to be accommodated as well.
Amid all these, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has stated in his press conference that the Clasico encounter should be played on the originally scheduled date itself.
While Barcelona will be up against Eibar on Saturday, Real Madrid will play RCD Mallorca on the same date.