Madrid, Oct 21: Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois criticized Spanish league president Javier Tebas on Tuesday over the decision to play a regular-season game in Miami in December.
Courtois also complained about the league’s decision to censor protests against the upcoming Villarreal-Barcelona game that he says alters the fairness of the competition.
“Teams should play home and away,” he said. “It’s not the same to play against a team at home and away. It’s hard to play on the road in the Spanish league. Playing on the road at Villarreal’s field is very tough. Every team has to play at home and away unless there is a major reason for that not to happen.” Villarreal is nominally the home team for the Dec. 20 match that will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The league finally succeeded in arranging a regular-season game to be played abroad after its previous attempts were brought down by protests from fan groups, the Spanish soccer federation and the country’s players’ association.
Players have made their feelings known by standing still for the first seconds of league matches last weekend, but these protests against the Miami game were censored or not fully broadcast for television audiences. The television feed of games switched before kickoff to an exterior view of the stadiums and only showed part of the fields from distance.
“It shouldn’t surprise you,” Courtois said about Tebas and the censorship.
“He has been doing these types of things for a long time, contesting people publicly on social media. I’ve already said it before, I’ve never seen a league president of any sport talk like that. To hide the protests and change the reason we are protesting is censorship and manipulation, and that’s serious.” (AP)
