Athletic feels very affected by the schedules. His matches are usually at 9:00 p.m. or later and he has many Mondays in the League. He is assuming it. But the dates set in the three weeks that go from the first leg of the Cup semifinals to the second leg have overwhelmed the patience of the club chaired by Elizegi. Athletic played yesterday at 9:00 p.m. against Espanyol in the League, 31 hours after the start of Valencia’s clash at home against Real. His rival in the Cup tournament next Wednesday will therefore have one more day off.
In the return leg things get even worse because the ches will play on Friday, February 25 in Mallorca at 9:00 p.m., exactly 48 hours before Athletic appears at the Camp Nou (Sunday 27). The rojiblancos will return to Bilbao that night on Monday at around four in the morning, and they will have to recover quickly, since the decision of the Cup semifinal awaits them on Wednesday. That adds 79 more hours of rest for Bordalás’ team if no match is moved in either of the two competitions. More than three days.
Elizegi already shouted to the sky for the different standards with some rivals and for so many night commitments: “With LaLiga we have constant differences from day one. We do not agree with the schedules that reduce the possibility of our members to enjoy San Mamés. We will never be next to a schedule policy that avoids that.”
Y Marcellin He didn’t bite his tongue yesterday after beating Espanyol.“It seems totally illogical to me that a team (Valencia) plays on Friday and we play on Sunday at nine at night in Barcelona.. It doesn’t seem normal to me and it’s not complaining, it’s a total inconsistency. It is the last game to play a final and there is enough time to equalize”, stated the coach in a very serious tone. He assumes that, after playing on Monday against Espanyol, they have one day less rest than Valencia, but “to have two to four days is a huge difference”. “It doesn’t make any sense and it does piss me off because to get to the final you have to try to ensure that both teams have similar conditions. One day, good. But two… It seems to me that it departs from logic”, insisted, visibly angry, the Careñes coach.
Balenziaga He became the spokesperson for the staff on this thorny issue. “In a game as important as a Cup semi-final second leg, there can’t be a team that has three days to recover and another five, it doesn’t seem fair to me”. Athletic already had to be a mere spectator of some quarterfinals in which they put it in the last session to give the South Americans from Madrid time to return home and be able to be at the San Mamés appointment. Against the meringues they played the two league matches in three weeks in December because the first round was postponed due to the CONMEBOL commitments of the meringue players.
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