Barcelona confirm La Liga rejected fixture change request | OneFootball

Barcelona will continue their battle with La Liga over fixture congestion right up until the end of the 2024/25 season.

La Blaugrana are fighting across three fronts in the final weeks of the campaign as Hansi Flick chases the La Liga title, Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.

That means more games added to the schedule at a rapid rate with Barcelona effectively playing every three days for the majority of 2025.

The tightness of the schedule has cause friction between Flick and La Liga with the German coach calling out unfairness over how Barcelona’s fixtures are landing.

The tension has spilled over into an official complaint filed by Barcelona in an unexpected show of unity with El Clasico rivals Real Madrid over the situation.

Every hour counts in between games, with all sides trying to adhere to the ’72 hour rule’, to allow Flick’s players to recover and go again.

Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the La Liga title race with a superb 4-3 comeback win over Celta Vigo and they will now face Mallorca in league action three days later.

There will be a four-day gap from that clash on April 22 to the Copa del Rey final with Real Madrid on April 26.

Image via FC Barcelona / Marc Graupera

However, the space between games returns to three days, as they return to Champions League action at the end of the month.

They host Inter Milan on April 30 in semi final action, host Real Valladolid on May 3, before the return clash at the San Siro on May 6.

Sporting director Deco has voiced his annoyance at the date ad kick of time against rock bottom Valladolid being moved to 9pm Spanish time, the same as the two Inter Milan games.

“Sometimes they listen to us and other times they don’t. In the Champions League, we’ve been weak when it comes to protecting ourselves with schedules,” as per quotes from Marca.

“The manager has talked about it for a while. We don’t have the power to make decisions. We understand why the match against Valladolid was scheduled for Sunday, and moved to Saturday; but it could have been played at 4pm or 6:30pm.

“We would have liked to play earlier. We asked to play at 6:30, but La Liga made a different decision.”