Clasico scheduled for December 18 following Barcelona, Real Madrid requests

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has accepted Barcelona and Real Madrid’s joint request for the rescheduled Clasico to take place on December 18.

Bitter rivals Barca and Madrid reached a quick consensus on a potential new date for the fixture after civil unrest in Catalonia forced their first encounter of the 2019-20 season, which was originally set to take place on October 26, to be postponed.

RFEF’s Competition Committee announced the acceptance of the proposal on Wednesday, but the agreed date may yet face further opposition from LaLiga.

According to reports, the administrator of Spanish football’s top two tiers could challenge the decision in court, as it opposes the idea of playing a match of such immense global interest in midweek. LaLiga is said to favour December 7, a Saturday, in line with the original plan for the game.

In a statement, RFEF said it had assessed “numerous reports” submitted by LaLiga but deemed them to be “not binding”.

It read: “The decision of the Competition Committee has come after analysing in recent days the proposals of both clubs, which it invited to agree on a date and who agreed to select December 18 for the celebration of the postponed match.

“It has also analysed a report of the RFEF Competition Area as well as the numerous reports submitted by the National Professional Football League [LaLiga], which are not binding.

“At its meeting today, the Committee has also analysed the latest pleas of the clubs, who stood by their initial proposal to play the game on December 18.”

Violent scenes broke out in Barcelona last week after nine Catalan political leaders received long prison sentences for their roles in the region’s 2017 referendum and subsequent declaration of independence.

Speaking after his side’s weekend win over Eibar, Barca boss Ernesto Valverde said: “It’s fashionable to not agree on anything on political issues. I hope that [there is an agreement] on this. I don’t think it’s too difficult.”