Villarreal shown ‘lack of respect’ over cancelled Miami game

Villarreal claim that La Liga has shown them “a complete and utter lack of respect” for the cancellation of their American international game against Barcelona.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) approved plans to move Villarreal’s game against Barcelona to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on December 20th.

The decision was later overturned on Tuesday following the backlash, with La Liga players protesting by refusing to move for the first 15 seconds of matches last weekend.

Villarreal claim they were scheduled to meet with representatives for a meeting on Thursday due to a lack of communication and poor organization, and that they were informed that they had to reschedule the game “minutes before” their Champions League clash with Manchester City.

Villalreal expresses its deep disappointment with La Liga with regard to the poor management of the game, which will ultimately not be played in the United States, in a statement issued by the club.

The La Liga organization called the team informing them that the game had been postponed just before kick-off against Manchester City. The best way to communicate it together would be to keep the information private, though.

“Minutes later, La Liga decided to issue a unilateral statement announcing the cancellation of a game between Villarreal and a team of such importance, demonstrating a total and total disregard for the club, as well as a lack of sensitivity and empathy,” the club’s surprise.

Villarreal stated that they would accept the game with the condition that those who had season tickets could receive free travel to Miami and receive financial compensation for missing the Barcelona game.

The cancellation of the game, according to Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish league, is a blow to the competition.

Spanish football has lost the chance to advance, establish itself internationally, and advance its future, Tebas wrote on X.

The governing bodies’ decisions, which annually destroy national leagues, threaten the true traditions of European football, while “the defense of tradition” is invoked from a narrow-minded and provincial perspective.

La Liga will continue to work with rigor and conviction to keep Spanish football competitive, standing up to those who want to end it while always respecting its roots and ensuring its viability.

Villarreal claimed that the game’s cancellation was a missed opportunity despite their criticisms of how the match was handled.

Villarreal regrets that La Liga, as the organizer, did not better oversee the game’s management and that Miami could not host the game, they said.

Tebas added that the league will continue to try to play games abroad and that Spanish football “deserved to look to the future with ambition rather than fear.”

Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal said playing in a foreign game would “stamp on the competition,” while Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said his players were “not happy” with the initial decision.

Villarreal lost to Manchester City 2-0 in the Champions League game against Villarreal, who had earlier made the decision to reschedule the game in Miami.

Although the Spanish Super Cup has been held in Saudi Arabia for the first five years, it would have been the first time a top-flight league match had taken place in the United States.

Football Supporters Europe, a fan organization, claimed that the level of opposition to La Liga’s plans was “däffning.”

The world of football is firmly persuaded by La Liga’s defeat: These poorly thought-out initiatives are destined to fail. The foundation of the game must now be destroyed, a statement read.

La Liga made the bold move of putting together a league game between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami when it first announced its intention to host the game as a result of a high profile partnership between the two clubs.

The project was intended to be a new frontier for a game with global relevance because it was fully compliant with federation regulations and competition integrity.

However, the controversy that ensued demonstrated just how far Spanish football can still go without using one voice.

The cancellation procedure has left a lot to be desired. Villalarreal claimed that the timing had a negative impact on both their and the competition’s reputation. One senior player said, “We found out 10 minutes before kick-off]in Tuesday’s home Champions League game against Manchester City.”

The players themselves argued against the process rather than the concept, which was one of the players’ most vocal critics. They had been asking for months how logistics would operate: Would there be a scheduled 72-hour rest between fixtures? Would their insurance cover travel? What is the distribution of payments?

Teams held symbolic protests when no one responded. Listen to us, that’s what they were trying to say.

Opposition quickly grew throughout Spain. Many clubs expressed doubts, the project’s transparency and logic, and details regarding compensation for clubs remained a mystery. Villalarreal even claimed in public that the deal wasn’t for them, while Barcelona insisted that they were already paid right away when they boarded the plane to Miami.

Real Madrid’s opposition to the Miami game grew even more loud as they filed a second complaint with the country’s national sports council (CSD) to stop it. Playing a league game abroad would “violate competitive fairness,” the club claimed.

A brand-new discussion has erupted. La Liga agrees with the first suggestion, but not the second, that alters the competition is one thing and alters it another to tamper with or corrupt it.

The Spanish federation offered its support during this legal and institutional tug-of-war, while the government scurried cautiously through the regulatory maze, eager to see how things turned out.

The decision to hold off on is more than just one cancelled game for La Liga, Villarreal, and Barca: it represents a setback in efforts to create new revenue streams and uphold international competition.

By opening new commercial and sporting opportunities abroad, the league insisted that the project would create long-term value for all parties involved, including fans, players, and clubs. It stressed the importance of Spanish football’s continued international expansion.