Barcelona’s Gerard Pique says changing El Clasico date was wrong decision

The fixture was originally scheduled to take place on 26 October at the Camp Nou, but the volatility of the political situation in Catalonia forced a switch.

La Liga originally asked for the game to be moved to Real’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium, but the request was ruled out in favour of a postponement to 18 December.

That has caused some controversy, as it gives Barcelona 29 hours extra rest than their rivals because of the scheduling of league fixtures the weekend before, when Barca face Real Sociedad on Saturday afternoon and Madrid take on Valencia on Sunday night.

But Pique played down the complaints and underlined that he thinks the game should have gone ahead when it was originally planned.

“They will have more for the next game then…there is always some kind of complaint and the calendar is what it is,” Pique told Cadena Cope (via Diario AS).

“The game had to have been played the day it had to be played. If it had been the other way around, Barça would have complained (for having less rest). The players are used to playing games two or three days apart. At Barça-Madrid, you look at everything with a magnifying glass.

“Surely if we look at other times we have had less rest than Madrid. We did not propose to postpone the game. This started with (La Liga president, Javier) Tebas who proposed to play in Madrid and from there we played on December 18. We don't complain.

“What about the 26 October date? Nothing would have happened the day we had to play. At one specific point there were people who rebelled against the police, but nothing happened at the Camp Nou and I am convinced that nothing will happen.”

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