Spat in Spanish soccer over playing during daytime heat
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Spanish soccer has another spat on its hands.
The national soccer federation took issue with the Spanish league over its management strategy for the second time this week when it criticized the scheduling of games during what it considered the excessive heat of daytime.
The federation run by Luis Rubiales said it would try to take control of match scheduling if La Liga continues to hold matches in daytime heat.
The federation issued a statement on Sunday to express its "displeasure that matches are still being played each weekend under temperatures that are over 30 degrees (Celsius, 86 Fahrenheit) with the problems that cause athletes and fans."
Sevilla vs. Levante started at 12:00 local time on Sunday, with Villarreal hosting Valencia at 16:15. Both matches featured water breaks in each half due to the high temperatures.
Villarreal coach Javier Calleja complained about the heat, and the time of the match.
"We have to find a better time (to play)," Calleja said after the 0-0 draw. "It was very hot today and it was not the best time. Today we all suffered, above all the players."
The league's heat protocol allows it to push back the time of matches if temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sunday's match between Athletic Bilbao at Real Betis played in the southern city of Sevilla was originally scheduled to start at 18:30, but the league pushed it back to 20:00 earlier this week when forecasts called for temperatures to approach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Prior to the federation statement, Rubiales wrote on Twitter "If La Liga maintains these crazy playing times, we will recover the power" to schedule matches. His tweet included a photo of woman who appeared to be receiving medical attention at a stadium, apparently for a health problem related to the heat.
League president Javier Tebas responded to Rubiales on Twitter by saying "my friend Luis Rubiales". "you cannot recover what is not yours."
The dispute over times is the second run-in between the league and federation this week.
On Friday, the federation responded to the league's request to play a regular-season match in the United States with a letter listing several problems it finds in the plan.
MADRID EYES KEY WEEK
Expect Gareth Bale to be back in the frontline of Real Madrid's attack this week when it faces high-profile matches at Sevilla and a capital derby against Atletico Madrid.
Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui, who has the difficult task of following in the footsteps of Zinedine Zidane, took a chance on Saturday when he left Bale and other first-choice players out of his lineup for the visit of Espanyol.
The decision seemed reasonable enough considering that Espanyol hasn't won at the Santiago Bernabeu since the 1995-96 season, and that his regular starters had played on Wednesday in a 3-0 win over Roma in the Champions League. So Lopetegui took the calculated risk that now was the time to give Bale, Marcelo and Toni Kroos a break.
But instead of trouncing Espanyol with a squad led by Francisco "Isco" Alarcon, Madrid needed a favorable video review to see a first-half strike by Marco Asensio appear on the scoreboard, and Borja Iglesias' shot to be rejected by the crossbar to eke out a 1-0 victory and avoid consecutive slips after drawing at Athletic Bilbao.
"Players who don't play as often played well today, we had to give them minutes and they responded," Lopetegui. "We had circled this match in red. Games that come after a match in the Champions League are always complicated."
In and out of favor with Zidane, Bale has been the driving force for Madrid going back to the end of the last season, when he scored five goals in the final four appearances in La Liga. That scoring run preceded his outstanding performance in the Champions League final, when he scored twice as a second-half substitute to help beat Liverpool 3-1.
So far this season, the Wales winger has four goals in six appearances, including a goal in a 3-0 win over Roma to start Madrid's European title defense.
Madrid visits Sevilla on Wednesday before hosting Atletico on Saturday. Three days later, Madrid then has a long trip to Moscow to play CSKA in the Champions League.
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