"They're coming to screw us": outrage at Barça over the postponed match against Osasuna

BarcelonaThe Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has informed Barça and Osasuna that the League match they have pending due to the postponement caused by the sudden death of Dr. Carlos Miñarro The match will ultimately be played on Thursday, March 27, with a schedule still undetermined. This means that the request of the Blaugrana club, which was in favor of playing the match on May 21, just a few days before the final matchday, was not validated by the relevant authorities, who were pressured by other teams who believed that playing the postponed match so late could distort the competition.

As the match will be on March 27, it is highly likely that Raphinha Dias and Ronald Araujo, called up respectively by Brazil and Uruguay, will not be able to play. The Blaugrana winger has a match against Argentina in the early hours of the 26th, which would make it difficult for him to recover in time to play against Osasuna, as he must take a transoceanic flight to return to Barcelona. As for the Uruguayan defender, he has an international commitment on March 25 in Bolivia, in abnormal altitude conditions, at 9 p.m. (Catalan time). Therefore, it is also fair that he can compete at 100% in La Liga in a match for which Flick would surely have required him due to the absence of Iñigo Martínez.

The news has already reached Barça, where indignation prevails because they believe that Hans-Dieter Flick will not be able to prepare for the match in the same conditions as Osasuna. Not only because of the difficulty of recovering Raphinha and Araujo in time for the match, but because the German coach will recover the bulk of the international players between Monday and Wednesday of the week in question. "They're coming to screw us," is the warning from the first team locker room, where the fierce joy at Sunday's comeback against a direct rival like Atlético de Madrid is combined with anger at both the decision of the authorities and the Marc Casadó's serious knee injury.

Both Barça and Osasuna will appeal

According to RFEF regulations, the call-up of players to their national teams is not grounds for suspending or postponing a match. For their part, Barça's legal services are determined to file an appeal with the second-instance judge. Osasuna will do the same. This is the way Espanyol and Villarreal managed to move a match suspended due to a storm. Initially, the RFEF scheduled the match for April 9, but the joint action of Espanyol and Villarreal forced the date to be moved to the 27th of the same month. Furthermore, this season there is already a precedent for a match postponed during the international break. Real Sociedad had to play it without international players against Joven Español of Valencia in the Copa del Rey on November 21.

May 21 is the only date on the calendar that remains 100% free without depending on Barça's performance in competitions they can still win. All other options have asterisks. A good alternative to March 27 would be to play the match during the weekend of April 26 and 27, coinciding with the Copa del Rey final. The problem with securing this date is that Barcelona are immersed in the semifinals of that competition and won't play the second leg against Atlético Madrid (4-4 in the first leg) until early April. The same goes for the two weeks Barça would have off if the Champions League semifinals weren't played. Hence the insistence on May 21.