La Liga president rejects Courtois' plea to delay Real Madrid's 25-26 opener for more rest time
Real Madrid was eliminated with a 4-0 semifinal loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and will have a 41-day offseason before its La Liga opener against Osasuna on Aug. 19.
Tebas said the decision not to move the opener was made by the Spanish Football Federation and La Liga agreed with it. He said players were to have 21 days off and 21 days of preseason training.
'I believe that they will have 20 days to rest instead of 21 and no other leagues like the Premier League for Chelsea or the French Ligue 1 for PSG are changing the games,' he said through a translator during a Friday interview with The Associated Press. 'So I don't believe that we should change the calendar for that reason, especially thinking that it's a matter of one day.'
Real Madrid played 68 competitive matches in a season that started Aug. 18: 38 in the league, 14 in the Champions League, six each in the Copa del Rey and the Club World Cup, two in the Spanish Super Cup and one apiece in the European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.
PSG will play its 65th game in Sunday's Club World Cup final and Chelsea its 64th. PSG opens its season from Aug. 15-17 at Nantes and Chelsea starts against Crystal Palace on Aug. 17.
ALSO READ | Liverpool to honour Diogo Jota in pre-season match against Preston
'It's always the same for La Liga,' Courtois said Wednesday. 'To listen those comments from a president it's something that I haven't seen it in Italy, or in England, nor the NBA and NFL. It's fine if Tebas doesn't like the Club World Cup, but it exists. It's part of the FIFA calendar. We're here competing, and it seems this gentleman just wants to be the focus. I've never seen a president of another competition speak like that. The players' heath is on the line.'
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