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Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone and his Barcelona counterpart Hansi Flick among a few other team managers have criticised La Liga for continuing with this weekend’s round of league fixtures despite a calamitous flood in Valencia, Spain, recently. After torrential rains in the Valencia region earlier this week, at least 211 people are reportedly dead, while the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, expects the death toll to increase further.
While the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has postponed Real Madrid’s trip to Valencia and Rayo Vallecano’s match at Villarreal this weekend in La Liga, the other managers in the league believe it isn’t enough. Over the past few days, Valencia has seen huge destruction due to the flood with bridges being washed away, towns covered with mud, various communities in the region left without food, water, and electricity.
It doesn't make any sense: Diego Simeone on La Liga matches being held this weekend despite Valencia floods
During his pre-match press conference before Atletico Madrid’s home game at the Metropolitano Stadium against Las Palmas on Sunday, November 2, Diego Simeone was quoted as saying, as per BBC Sport, “It doesn't make any sense. What is happening is very hard. The people who went out into the street to help, who with a shovel and their tools try to collaborate, that speaks very well of the country, of the people, and we want to help where we can. There are people having a very bad time, it is very sad and they tell us to carry on and here we are, carrying on.”
Hansi Flick, the manager of Barcelona, also echoed the thoughts of his counterpart Diego Simeone in the build-up to the Catalan derby against Espanyol at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, and remarked, “If it were me, I might do it [postpone matches] because it is an incredible tragedy for Valencia and Spain as a whole We have spoken with Ferran [Torres], who is from the area, and it is not easy to decide whether the game should be played or not. For me it is a tragedy. It was something similar in Germany three years ago, it is horrible. We will do everything we can to help. The rest is for La Liga to decide.”
There were three fixtures held on Saturday, November 2, in La Liga, which saw Alaves and Osasuna defeat Mallorca and Valladolid by 1-0 respectively at home, while Girona got the better of Leganes 4-3 in a thriller in front of their home fans.
