After an exciting week of Champions League semi-finals, The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) decreed that starting May 16th La Liga matches will come to a halt. According to AS Diario, this decision comes after a revised broadcasting deal where the share of viewer profits would be shared more equally. This is especially great for smaller Spanish teams, but to quote AS about its disadvantages “the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) they would only receive a 0.5% of the share of revenues under the new broadcasting rights act. The Clubs who attended this evening’s committee meeting (Athletic, Sevilla, Valencia, Levante Getafe, Betis, Valladolid, Tenerife and Recreativo) were not in favor of a lockout but stated that they fully understand the measures taken by the RFEF.” (AS Diario) This would mean FC Barcelona, who are just two games shy of winning the league, would have to postpone their games until further notice. Currently it is not known if there are any compromise arranged, but we will see May 16th.
In other news, Real Madrid tied (2 – 2) at the Bernabéu in a game they needed to win to keep their title hopes on track. Valencia played a superb fast attacking game to put two past Iker Casillas in the first 25 minutes of the first half.
Goals from Alcacer and Fuego put severe pressure on Los Merengues as it forced Carlo Ancelotti to substitute at half time. It didn’t help either that Cristiano’s penalty was blocked. A rather calm and collected man; Ancelotti usually substitutes at the dying minutes of the game, but knew time was against him. He replaced both Coentrão and Arbeloa for a more attack oriented Marcelo and Carvajal.As if that wasn’t bad enough Ancelotti had to make an even more critical substitution as Toni Kroos was seen limping off the field.
During the second half things started to change a bit. Pepe pulled an amazing header and Isco with a beautiful finesse shot to put Madrid on par with Valencia. It i wasn’t enough to earn them the three points though. The standing now is Barcelona 90 points and Real Madrid 86 points. The situation for Real looks really grim, Barcelona would have to tie or lose both games and Madrid win the last remaining two fixtures to have a chance. Barcelona faces Atlético Madrid and Deportivo De La Coruna, but it seems easy enough to achieve at-least 3 or if not all 6 points on their way to La Liga crown. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of La Liga.
