'Utter lack of respect for the club' - Villarreal blast La Liga over cancellation of proposed league match vs Barcelona in the U.S.

On Tuesday, La Liga canceled the Dec. 20 match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, pointing to concerns from organizer Relevent on insufficient time and "uncertainty in Spain." 

Barcelona issued a statement, saying the club accepts the decision. Villarreal, however, were more critical, pointing to several logistical and organizational failures that ultimately led to the abrupt termination of the match. 

"Villarreal CF wishes to express its deep displeasure with La Liga for the poor management of the organization of the match scheduled to be played in Miami against FC Barcelona on Dec. 20, corresponding to Matchday 17, which ultimately will not be played in the United States," the club said in a statement. "Given the lack of progress in the development and organization by La Liga, Villarreal CF has repeatedly expressed its deep concern to the organization and urged it to define such basic and fundamental aspects as confirming the match time and hiring a travel agency for such a large-scale trip, which are vital to begin organizing the event.

"In fact, a meeting was scheduled for this Thursday, in which if these issues were not resolved immediately, the club would withdraw from the project due to not having the minimum conditions guaranteed for the organization. Villarreal CF regrets that La Liga, as the organizer, did not better manage the management of the match and that the La Liga match in Miami could not be held, as it believes it is a good opportunity for the growth of the clubs and La Liga internationally."

According to Villarreal, the largest failure, outside of organizational issues, came from La Liga's inability to agree to key requests.

"This summer, La Liga proposed to Villarreal CF to participate and host the match, which would be played against FC Barcelona before the Christmas break," the club said. "Villarreal CF, as it has publicly stated on numerous occasions, accepted because it believes this project is very beneficial for the club's growth and, above all, for contributing to the development of the competition. However, it requires two fundamental and mandatory conditions for its implementation:

"The money allocated to this initiative by La Liga will be used to compensate Villarreal CF season ticket holders, who are the ones truly affected by this situation, for missing one of the matches already included in their season ticket. This will include free travel to Miami to watch the match or a partial refund of their season ticket.

"Neither of the participating clubs will receive any direct financial benefit from La Liga for playing the match, as the money should have been used to compensate Villarreal season ticket holders - as clarified in point one - and because it would also be unfair to the other La Liga clubs." 

The announcement came midway through Villarreal's Champions League match against Manchester City.

"For me, it shows an absolute lack of respect to put out a statement at half-time of our game about something that was planned but will not happen," coach Marcelino García Toral told reporters. "It's a lack of respect to the directors of this club, the club itself, the professionals and the fans."

Villarreal said they learned of the cancellation just before the match on Tuesday.

"Last night, minutes before kickoff of the Champions League match between Villarreal CF and Manchester City at the Estadio de la Cerámica, the club was notified by phone by LaLiga that the match was canceled at the discretion of the sponsoring company," the club said. "However, the information was confidential and the best time would be sought to communicate it jointly, just as they had done for the confirmation of the match on Oct. 8.

"However, minutes later, and to the club's surprise, La Liga decided to issue a unilateral statement announcing the cancellation of a match involving Villarreal during a match of such importance to the club, demonstrating a complete and utter lack of respect for the club, as well as a lack of sensitivity and empathy." 

A prominent UEFA supporter-led liaison group, Football Supporters Europe, said it supported the cancellation. 

“Common sense and the rules of the game have prevailed. This is a seismic victory for European football and everyone who believes the game belongs at the heart of our communities," the group said in a statement. “La Liga’s defeat sends a clear message to the world of football: such ill-conceived projects are doomed to fail. These attempts to destabilize the foundation of the game must stop now.”

The proposed match by La Liga would have been historic, as the Spanish top flight would have been the first European league to host an official league match stateside. Despite the opportunity to grow interest in the league, it was met with large-scale disapproval from fans and players alike.

Each La Liga match had player protests last weekend and even UEFA's President Aleksander Ceferin warned matches abroad could "break" the sport. With the cancellation of the match in Miami, Villarreal will now host Barcelona on Dec. 21.