Thibaut Courtois accuses La Liga of “manipulation” after the non-broadcast of the demonstrations against the Miami match
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has accused La Liga of “manipulation” after a number of weekend protests against plans to host Villarreal against Barcelona in Miami were not broadcast.
Teams protested these plans during the weekend’s La Liga matches by not starting play during the first 15 seconds of matches. The protests were not widely publicized and Athletics reported that this was after La Liga asked television companies not to broadcast them, according to several people familiar with the request.
On Thursday, La Liga president Javier Tebas wrote a letter seen by Athleticsto the president of the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE), David Aganzo, in which he said the planned strike could lead to “undesirable consequences” for the players involved.
“I don’t know why you’re surprised, they’ve been doing this for a long time,” Courtois said at a news conference Tuesday. “When making public statements on social networks, I have never seen a president of a sports league speak like this. Hiding the demonstrations is hiding, it is manipulative and it is serious.”
La Liga matches are produced by the company HBS, following a prior agreement with Mediapro. HBS did not respond to a request for comment and La Liga declined to comment over the weekend. La Liga has been contacted for further comment following Courtois’ remarks.
UEFA has cleared La Liga’s plan to stage the December match at Hard Rock Stadium on October 6 and, pending FIFA approval, the match will become the first top-tier European match to be played in the United States.
The match was to be played at the Estadi de la Ceramica in Villarreal, and Courtois argued that the plans promoted injustice because they removed home advantage.
“Yes, absolutely, it distorts competition,” he added. “In the NBA or NFL, they play 82 games and it doesn’t change anything if they play elsewhere. These leagues belong to the clubs, unlike La Liga, which does not respect the players’ agreement and distorts the competition.
“I don’t think it’s fair. We know that in La Liga, playing against a home team is not the same as playing away.”
Teammate Dani Carvajal echoed Courtois’ thoughts, writing on Instagram in a statement addressed to Tebas: “There will be a stain on the competition if the match takes place.”
Madrid has frequently expressed its disagreement with the match in the United States and has sent two letters to the Spanish Sports Council (CSD) in recent weeks expressing its opposition to La Liga matches being held outside Spain.
Representatives from AFE and La Liga are in talks to arrange a meeting to discuss next steps.
