"La Liga is back!". If the media are delighted this Sunday by the hoped resumption of the championship after two months of stoppage, the Spanish League will have to face many challenges to ensure its smooth running between heat, closed doors, and health risks. After closely observing the Bundesliga "crash test", the first major championship to restart last weekend, Spain, hard hit by the pandemic, will launch in turn and will have to take the fold of empty stadiums and strict sanitary measures to end the season safely. On Saturday, the Spanish government gave the green light for a recovery from the week of June 8. The League has not yet communicated on the exact date of return or on its recovery protocol, but the body that manages professional football in Spain should do so sometime next week, according to the press.
Overwhelming heat
For several weeks, the President of the League Javier Tebas has been pushing for the championship to resume on June 12, with the Andalusian derby between Betis and Sevilla FC as a curtain raiser. Tebas said he was "very happy" with the announcement of this takeover, but he will now have to redouble his efforts to face the immense challenges that lie ahead. "We cannot let our guard down," he warned. Because the last eleven days of the championship will be played this summer probably behind closed doors and in oppressive heat.
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During a working meeting with the League at the end of the week, the main players' union in Spain (AFE) asked that “cool breaks” be observed when temperatures fluctuate between 28 and 32 ° C, and that training and matches are postponed when they exceed 32 ° C, which is common in summer in Spain. Valence CF, for example, trained in small groups below 28 ° C on Saturday. The AFE also asked that a compulsory rest of 72 hours minimum be respected between two matches for the same team, while the League had announced with ardor that there would be “football every day” of the week .
Injury, “torment” of players
This point is debated because the League and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), in disagreement on the fact of broadcasting football on Monday, already went to court on February 20 and 21. The judgment has not yet been pronounced. But the League is pushing, because the economic stakes are gigantic: Tebas had estimated at the beginning of April at a billion euros the losses in the event of a permanent cessation of the season, against 300 million in the event of recovery without spectators. By the start of the game, players, who moved from individual training to small group sessions on May 18 while continuing to adhere to strict sanitary measures, will have almost three weeks to prepare.
A minimum for the AFE, which required 15 to 20 days. “We want to return to competition, but we have to go phase after phase to get back in shape. We will not have matches to test our sensations, we will enter directly into the competition, “feared the winger and captain of Levante, José Luis Morales, in Marca on Saturday. “What concerns us most is what can happen on a physical level, injuries. (...) These two months have increased the risk of injury, "Colombian Espanyol Barcelona central defender Bernardo Espinosa commented to his club media on Friday. “This is what torments my teammates the most. We must regain muscle and functional tone, and reduce this risk, which has increased, not only because of the time we spent without playing, but also because of this bizarre period we have gone through, and because of the temperatures. high, "he added.
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