Barcelona to resume La Liga title defence against Real Mallorca

Barcelona will resume their bid to defend the Spanish title on Saturday 13 June with a trip to Real Mallorca, while Real Madrid will host Eibar the following day as La Liga confirmed dates for the first two rounds of fixtures after the restart.

Ernesto Valverde’s side will kick off their first game back at 10pm local time (9pm BST). Real Madrid’s match with Eibar will kick off at 7.30pm (6.30pm BST), with Atlético’s trip to face Athletic Bilbao at 1pm (12pm BST).

The season will resume on 11 June with the derby between Sevilla and Real Betis after a near three-month pause There will be fixtures on each of the following seven days, with the Valencia v Levante derby on 12 June, Barça hosting Leganés on 16 June and Real Madrid hosting Valencia on 18 June. All three of those games will kick off at 10pm local time.

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All matches will be played behind closed doors, with Real playing their remaining six home games at the Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano, a 6,000-seat stadium at their training complex, after summer renovation work began at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Levante, who resume their campaign eight points outside the bottom three, will play their final “home” games in the town of La Nucia, 150km (93 miles) away from their Ciutat de Valencia stadium.

The head of La Liga, Javier Tebas, has said there will be matches played every day in Spain until the season is completed on 19 July – but organisers have so far released dates for only the first two rounds of fixtures. All 20 teams in the league have 11 matches to play.

Tebas has also given details of a planned tribute to the victims of the pandemic, with audio recordings of fan applause transmitted into each stadium and broadcast on TV in the 20th minute of each game.

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“Fans make football so special, and as they cannot be in the stadiums we have created this initiative so they can play a part in the return of the competition and show their support for the heroes of Covid-19,” Tebas told the Spanish TV network Movistar.

“We want them to feel close to their clubs even though they will be in the stadiums making noise,” Tebas added. “This way, the players will also be able to hear the support of their fans.”

Source: guardian