Valencia boss Baraja left baffled by Barcelona schedule change | OneFootball

Valencia head coach Rubén Baraja has on Friday revealed his bemusement with the decision of La Liga to reschedule his side’s upcoming showdown with Barcelona.

For those who may have missed it, on Thursday, a whole host of changes to the plans for Gameweek 33 of the campaign in Spain’s top-flight were announced.

After Real Madrid requested to have their meeting with Real Sociedad moved forward by a day to afford them extra time to recover before the first leg of the club’s Champions League semi-final tie with Bayern Munich, something of a domino effect was kickstarted.

No fewer than ten further clubs saw their fixture lists affected, including the likes of Atlético Madrid, Athletic Club, and the aforementioned Valencia.

And not shy in making his feelings crystal clear with as much on Friday afternoon was Los Che headmaster Rubén Baraja.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of his side’s meeting with Real Betis on Saturday, Baraja was asked for his take on Valencia’s ensuing outing against Barcelona being pushed back by a full two days, to Monday, April 29th.

“These are things that cannot be understood,” the Spaniard began, making clear that he simply cannot come to terms with the reasoning behind Los Che’s trip to Catalunya being shifted.

“These are things that need to be greatly improved,” Baraja continued, before concluding that “the biggest victims are the fans”.

As revealed by Diario Sport, Valencia, to their credit, have organised ‘a free round-trip bus service so that its fans can attend the match in Barcelona despite the time change’.

Conor Laird | GSFN