The World Cup is affecting the La Liga schedule: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will start the new season a week later than their rivals. It’s surprising that this doesn’t apply to Atlético Madrid as well.
When the World Cup began, not a single Spanish professional from Real Madrid was in the starting lineup. Nevertheless, the Royals’ La Liga season opener is being postponed—because of their World Cup players. While most of their rivals will kick off the season on August 15, the Madrid team won’t get started until August 22. That’s when Coach José Mourinho will make his comeback with the 15-time Champions League winners as he leads his team in an away match against Espanyol Barcelona.
The World Cup has an impact: Real and Barcelona will start a week later
The home game against Real Sociedad San Sebastián, coached by Pellegrino Materazzo, originally scheduled for the weekend of August 15–16, has been postponed to August 26, the league announced on Tuesday. Instead, according to information from Funke Sport, Bundesliga newcomer Schalke 04 can look forward to a match against Los Blancos on August 16 at the Arena in Gelsenkirchen to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Up to five Real Madrid pros could take the field in the World Cup semifinals in the U.S.: Kylian Mbappé, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Ibrahima Konaté will play for France on Tuesday (9 p.m.) against Spain and new signing Marc Cucurella. On Wednesday (9 p.m.), Jude Bellingham will play for England against defending champions Argentina.
Ter Stegen on the ball at the start of preseason training
What applies to Real also applies to FC Barcelona and coach Hansi Flick, who—despite transfer speculation—welcomed Marc-André ter Stegen, among others, to training at the start of preseason, in addition to the World Cup players. Last week, Dutch media outlets unanimously reported that Barca and Ajax Amsterdam had agreed on a loan deal for the 44-time German international.
It remains to be seen whether the goalkeeper will still be in Barcelona when last season’s double winner also begins training a week later than planned. For Flick’s squad, the away game on August 23 at FC Elche will be followed by the postponed home opener on August 27 against Athletic Bilbao.
The Catalans have ten World Cup semifinalists on their roster, eight of whom—Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Gavi, Pau Cubarsi, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Eric, and Joan Garcia—are on Spain’s national team. They’re joined by Jules Koundé (France) and new signing Anthony Gordon (England).
Atlético Starts Almost “Normal”
For Atlético Madrid, on the other hand—which has nine players in the semifinals, five of them on Argentina’s team—the season kicks off almost “normally”: On August 19, the Rojiblancos will face Málaga CF in their season opener. So for Atlético, there’s at most a slight exception.