La Liga is considering legal action in response to Royal Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) decision to reschedule the postponed El Classico 2019 between Barcelona and Real Madrid to December 18. The announcement came moments after the Spanish Federation had accepted the rescheduled date proposed by both the clubs after the match, which was originally supposed to take place on October 26 at Camp Nou – had to be postponed due to civil unrest and fear of violence by protestors demanding the independence of Catalonia.

El Classico the biggest fixture in Spain’s domestic football was postponed last week because of violence and unrest by the pro-independence protestors in Catalonia. Violence ensued following a decision by Spain’s High Court to jail nine pro-independence separatist leaders for their role in releasing an illegal referendum. The first El Classico of the 2019-20 season was originally supposed to be played at Camp Nou but was postponed with La Liga proposing December 4 or 7 as the rescheduled date before Spanish Federation agreed to the December 18 date.

"The league does not agree with the decision," La Liga was quoted as saying by AFP in a statement. “It is studying the documentation to decide whether to appeal, against whom and before what bodies." La Liga president Javier Tebas is said to forward December 7 – a Saturday – as the date for the rescheduled clash. The original date for El Classico was also a Saturday.

"LaLiga does not share the resolution of the Competition Committee to set December 18 - following the agreement reached by Barcelona and Real Madrid, despite LaLiga's refusal - as the date of the previously postponed Clasico. It is studying the documentation recently received from the file referring to this procedure to assess the possible legal actions to be taken against the corresponding institutions and before the public bodies or jurisdictional bodies that it deems appropriate,” the statement from the football body read.

Earlier, a statement from RFEF read: "The decision of the Competition Committee has taken place after analysing in recent days the proposals of both clubs, who were invited to agree a date and decided on December 18. It has also analysed a report from the RFEF Competitions Area as well as numerous reports submitted by La Liga, which are not binding.  At today's meeting, the Committee also analysed the latest reports from both clubs, who maintain their initial proposal to play the match on 18 December."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2019 11:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).