Fans of Ibiza They completed the limited capacity of 1,500 seats to see how their team eliminated from the Copa del Rey al Celtic (5-2). In Córdoba, 2,500 spectators did the same in The archangel, where the First team that was left out was the Getafe (1-0). The same number of fans were in Marbella, a game in which the locals forced extra time against the Valladolid (2-3). A few fewer, 2,000, gathered at the Ruta de la Plata Stadium, where he Zamora could not with him Villarreal (1-4), and only 400 were in the field of Mutilvera, the Navarrese team that was measured at Betis (1-3).
In Yecla, where he Valencia won 1-4, 1,000 fans were officially allowed in, although looking at the images of the match it gave the impression that many more attended and, worse, without keeping the safety distance. The Murcian town is confined, closed perimeter, with a curfew at 10:00 p.m. and bars and restaurants closed, except for the terraces and with a capacity of 50%. Health authorized that there be a third of the public that fits in The Constitution, but the background in which the Yeclano in the first part it was almost full.
Yes, as in the other matches corresponding to the second round of Cups, the Linares Deportivo-Sevilla FC was attended by the public. In this case, 2,500 fans were in the stands of the Linarejos Stadium, since, according to the Jaen club, he obtained permission from the Territorial Delegation of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucía for the expansion of the maximum capacity of spectators foreseen in the beginning. There was no surprise, as the Sevillian team won 0-2, although it was controversial due to some statements by the visiting coach, Julen Lopetegui.
“In this health emergency situation, where you have to have breakfast 200 meters from other people, suddenly you find yourself in a 30-meter locker room with 50 people. The truth is that it doesn’t make much sense, “complained the Sevilla FC coach, referring to the different protocols against Covid-19 that exist in LaLiga and the Copa del Rey, whose organization corresponds to the Spanish Football Federationl (RFEF). Indeed, it does not make any sense that the First and Second clubs are in real bubbles to play their respective league championships and in the Cup there is even an audience in the stands.
In fact, LaLiga matches continue to be played behind closed doors, despite the fact that the fields are much larger than those that are hosting the first Cup qualifying rounds and the means available to professional football are far from those that unfortunately have the clubs of Second B and let alone those of Third. It is enough to see the different protocols that, as Lopetegui indicated, LaLiga and the Cup have, to reach the conclusion that something does not add up. The key was given by the now Sevilla coach, although more than one was caught offside.
Lopetegui’s misrepresented criticism
“Why do you criticize the Linares facilities, Julen? It is in Second B and has the facilities it has. Not everyone has Sevilla’s budget. “As expected in the case of the former coach and former coach of the Real Madrid, in a program like ‘Jugones’ the words of the Gipuzkoan coach were misrepresented or at least interpreted as criticism of his rival, when it was neither like that nor that is the question. Own Javier Tebas announced last month that he was working with the idea that fans returned to the stands of Spanish stadiums at the beginning of 2021, although he did not refer to the Cup, the competition in which, paradoxically, it has happened before even in LaLiga.
“Yes, we will have an audience, we will start with a few, but we will have an audience, hopefully by January “, explained the top leader of the Spanish football association, although since Higher Sports Council (CSD) asked for prudence and its president, Irene LozanoShe said she was “hopeful that, with the vaccine on the horizon, we can have a public or at least partially before the end of the season.”
The minister’s arguments
“LaLiga or the ACB are without an audience because we can see them on television”, assured a few days ago the Minister of Culture and Sports, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, in an interview with the newspaper ‘AS’ “You have to be very contained and now we can afford not to go to the stadiums or the fields to watch football or basketball games and follow them on television. I am the first one who would like to go to the Bernabéu or watch Madrid basketball, “added Uribes to try to give consistency to his incongruous argument. Can’t the Cup also be seen on television?
The funny thing is that this Friday the round of 32 of the Cup is drawn, which includes the four teams that next week will play the Spanish Super Cup in Córdoba, Malaga and Seville, on January 13, 14 and 17, respectively. That is to say, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad, who join the 28 that have passed the round and will have as rivals the lower ranked clubs, including the Segunda B Ibiza, Cornellà, Córdoba and Peña Deportiva. The question is recurring: Will there also be an audience at Barça-Real Sociedad, Real Madrid-Athletic and the final of the Super Cup that has returned from Arabia and also organizes the RFEF?
Of course then will come the round of 16 of the Cup, scheduled for January 27, with a draw in which, as there will be a majority of First-team teams, two of them could very well face each other and thus play the single-game tie in the field of the first to leave. Let’s imagine that the draw holds, for example, a Real Madrid-Levante, whose league match is scheduled for January 31. Would this game be played without an audience as it is from LaLiga, but three or four days before with an audience to be from the Cup?
Perhaps the other key besides Lopetegui was given by Rodríguez Uribes when in the aforementioned interview he confessed that “I don’t think Real Madrid either, and I’m not a suspect because it’s my team, 10,000 people have been on the field for a long time. and the only thing we do is increase the risk. “It is known that with the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium under construction, the team of the Minister of Culture and Sports plays its matches in the Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium, with capacity for only 6,000 spectators. The saying goes, think wrong and you will be right …
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