La Liga
PRO-INDEPENDENCE PROTESTS ERUPT NEAR BARCELONA STADIUM BEFORE EL CLASICO
Chanting “Independence” and “Free political prisoners”, several thousand Catalan protesters gathered near Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium on Wednesday hours before the local side was to face rivals Real Madrid in Spain’s most high-profile match.
Despite a heavy police presence, some of them blocked a major avenue near the stadium, disrupting traffic.
The La Liga game, known as “El Clasico,” had initially been scheduled to occur two months ago.
However, it was postponed on security concerns due to unrest in the wealthy northeastern region after Spain’s Supreme Court in October sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to up to 13 years in prison.
Wednesday’s protest was called by secretive Catalan protest group Democratic Tsunami, which says it favours peaceful civic disobedience and whose main goals are to get Spain to negotiate on Catalonia’s right to self-determination and to achieve freedom for the jailed separatists.
Many protesters carried banners that read “Spain, sit and talk” and the organisation said on Twitter it would distribute 100,000 of those banners to the people attending the game. It also told them to bring inflatable balls and to write on them a “message for the world”.
Democratic Tsunami, which organised mass protests at Barcelona’s airport in October and blocked a major highway, said it does not wish to blockade or suspend the match.
Authorities have assembled a 3,000-strong force of public and private security officers to guarantee the match will not be disrupted, but declined to say how that compared to other El Clasico games.
The Spanish central government has sent around 500 additional anti-riot police to Barcelona, who would only intervene if the Catalan police asks for their help, said a national police spokesman.
Protesting in front of a hotel near the stadium where both teams were resting, pro-independence voter Marta Canaves, 53, said that the venue was a “great place to make visible to the rest of the world” the situation in Catalonia.
“We want to be heard and to vote,” added her friend Emma Castells, 55, referring to separatist demands to hold a referendum on independence.
-Reuters
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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