La Liga rejected Real Madrid’s request to reschedule their match against Alaves this weekend, denying them extra rest before their second leg against Arsenal.
Jesus Gallego reports for Spanish outlet Cadena SER that Real Madrid formally requested to move their league match against Alaves from Sunday to Saturday this weekend, hoping to get an extra day of rest before their match against Arsenal on Wednesday.
The league rejected the request, responding that it should have been made before the schedules were published, not afterwards.
Real Madrid only made the request after the fixture list was confirmed and made public on March 20th.
Real Madrid had contacted Alaves to inform them of their intention to move the game, receiving the go-ahead from their opponents. They then sent an email to La Liga to request the change.
Journalist Jesus Gallego claimed to have a copy of the email, which he shared:
“As you well know, this match is strategically located between the two matches we will play against Arsenal in the Champions League quarterfinals, on Tuesday, April 8 in London and Wednesday, April 16 in Madrid.
“Moving the match against Deportivo Alavés to Saturday, April 12 would allow us more time to adequately prepare for both that match and the decisive match on Wednesday, April 16 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
“We are convinced that our request is entirely reasonable and we trust that it can be met.”
The request was rejected as it hadn’t been submitted in a timely manner.
Real Madrid can feel hard done by that their match was put on Sunday to begin with, as almost every other club in the Champions League is playing their league match on the Saturday, including Arsenal.
The one other exception is Paris Saint-Germain, as they aren’t playing at all.
From an Arsenal perspective, the team will hope to use the extra rest day to finish the job in Spain next week.