Madrid angry, Valencia fires Kempes, more

Real Madrid’s match against Celta was postponed at the weekend due to high winds that damaged part of the Balaidos stadium roof (Depor’s home match against Betis was postponed because their stadium was damaged, too). But what has ticked Madrid off is that the postponement was originally announced and/or made by the mayor of Vigo; the league just went along with it.

Madrid wanted the match played on the weekend because Celta play Alaves in the second leg of their Copa semifinal in midweek, so they were fairly sure the Celeste would field a weakened side. As it is, with Celta still involved in the Europa League, the match couldn’t be made up until sometime in mid-March.

Madrid wanted the match played at Balaidos but the damaged parts of the ground cordoned off, or a new site found, but the league said no. Madrid have responded by firing off an angry press release criticizing the decision and calling the Vigo mayor a liar, having first raised the spectre of leaving La Liga to compete in a European “Superleague”.

Meanwhile, Valencia, who did play at the weekend and were humilated 4-0 at home by Eibar, have taken swift and dramatic action in the wake of that debacle. What action? They have informed Mario Kempes that his position as international ambassador for Los Ché (which expired at the end of 2016) is not being renewed. Kempes described Valencia as a ‘team that is lost’ with ‘no game, no direction, and little will’. He has been critical of owner Peter Lim—who has not been seen in Valencia for over a year now. With the Fallas coming up, and a key element of that celebration being satirical sculptures (some of which I am sure will have a VCF theme) Lim might want to stay away from Valencia awhile longer.

Finally, Atletico Madrid is in the news, first as European football’s most effective spenders. That’s of course down to Cholo Simeone’s amazing run of success at the helm, but of more concern is this detailed report in the Independent newspaper (U.K.) detailing problems with the financing of, and move to, Atleti’s new stadium. It is worth noting the report is based on information provided by the head of one of Atleti’s fan groups who has fought the move from the Calderón (as well as the takeover of the club by the current owners), so it’s presenting one side of the story. Still, Atleti was invited to respond, and didn’t.

As for Villarreal’s stadium name controversy, it appears to have died down for now; the club’s move to restore PA announcements in Valencian seems to have calmed some of the ruffled feathers. Enjoy your day and Endavant!