Real Madrid went to the top of La Liga thanks to a hard-fought victory at Real Sociedad over the weekend.
Zinedine Zidane’s side are level on points with Barca, who drew 0-0 with Sevilla on Friday, but go top because of their superior head-to-head record.
Sergio Ramos’ penalty after the lively Vinicius Jr was fouled gave the visitors the lead. Karim Benzema doubled their advantage before Mikel Merino’s strike set up a tense finale.
Real Madrid resumed their La Liga campaign by marking boss Zinedine Zidane’s 200th game in charge with a win over Eibar in unusual surroundings.
The Bernabeu stadium is being renovated so Real are playing their remaining home games at the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano at their training ground.
Toni Kroos ensured there was no settling in period, driving in a brilliant goal after just four minutes.
Sergio Ramos and Marcelo scored before half-time in a routine win.
The hosts faded badly in the second half, with Marcelo in particular looking dizzy at one point and needing to take on fluids, and Eibar pulled one back through Pedro Bigas’ fortunate strike.
Real Madrid are set to go without any new signings in the next transfer window, as the Spanish giants face the financial ramifications caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Los Blancos are typically front and centre when it comes to the biggest transfer stories. However, Marca reports that Madrid are unlikely to spend this summer as a result of the huge losses incurred by the Covid-19-inflicted halt in play this season.
According to the report, Madrid’s loss of revenue streams, including matchday sales and broadcast money, have lead to huge losses, and the club is anticipating a loss of around €150m (£135m) next season if games are played behind closed doors.
Spain’s La Liga became the third major league this week to announce plans to restart its season. Previously we had heard from the Premier League and Serie A and all eyes turned to Spain where La Liga announced football will resume on June 11 after a three-month pause due to the coronavirus pandemic with the local derby between Sevilla and Real Betis, the government’s department for sport (CSD) said in a statement on Friday.
“At a meeting of the contact group they form alongside the CSD, the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and La Liga have agreed to the format of the final 11 rounds of fixtures of La Liga and the second division,” said the CSD’s statement.
La Liga can resume behind closed doors from 8 June, says Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. La Liga president Javier Tebas also stated the league will work with clubs in the coming days, to establish an exact return date, likely to be from June 12.
La Liga players this week started training in groups of no more than 10.
“Spain has done what it should and now new horizons are opening for everyone. The time has come to bring back many day-to-day activities,” said Sanchez.
“From 8 June, La Liga will be back. Spanish football has a huge following but it will not be the only recreational activity that will return.”
La Liga president Javier Tebas hopes Spain’s top flight will restart on 12 June and says coronavirus tests will mean “practically zero” risk to players during games.
The league said on Sunday that five players had tested positive for the virus across Spain’s top two divisions. La Liga started testing players last week as it plans to resume training and play matches behind closed doors.
“I’d like it [the restart date] to be 12 June,” Tebas told Movistar.
“But we have to be careful. It will depend on many factors such as a potential rise in infections, factors which don’t depend on football but on Spanish society.
La Liga president Javier Tebas responded with bemusement to news the French season will end with 10 rounds of matches still to be played.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s announcement that sport in the country will not be allowed to resume before summer effectively ends the season, but Tebas warned football could disappear if it failed to restart.
He said: ‘I do not understand why there would be more danger in playing football behind closed doors, with all precautionary measures, than working on an assembly line or being on a fishing boat on the high seas.
Spain’s health minister has said that Spaniards should not expect to see professional football restart before the summer.
Spain has been without football since March 12, two days before the nation went into a strict lockdown under a state of emergency to battle its coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 22,000 lives.
‘It would be reckless for me to say now that professional football will be back before the summer,’ Salvador Illa said on Sunday.
‘We will continue to monitor the evolution (of the virus) and the guidelines we will present will indicate how different activities can return to a new normalcy.’
La Liga president Javier Tebas has reportedly told clubs they may be fined if they do not show up to play matches after the coronavirus pandemic.
The football calendar has been put on hold in Spain, but there is hope that it may resume in the coming months to see out the rest of the 2019/20 season.
Unsurprisingly, there are some concerns about returning too soon.
But Tebas has issued a very stern warning to clubs who opt against getting back into training and playing matches once again.
Plans to get Spanish football restarted in June are likely to face opposition from the country’s footballers.
The players union AFE are due to meet having been frozen out of the eight hour meeting at the weekend between the Spanish government’s Sports Council (CSD), the Spanish Football Federation, and La Liga.
That meeting was designed to bring together La Liga and the Federation after weeks of public bickering between the two. It worked with a joint statement issued promising greater collaboration, but now the governing bodies have to get players on board with the plan to restart the season on June 6.