Striking Protest by Barcelona and Girona Players After Match Kick-Off

In protest of moving the Barcelona-Villarreal match to Miami, players froze in two Spanish League matches. One of the matches ended with a narrow victory for Barcelona.

Matches in the Spanish Football League witnessed protest stoppages by the players. In one match, the referee blew the starting whistle, but the players stood still in their places for 15 seconds after touching the ball, before resuming play as normal.

The same scene was repeated in a match between Real Oviedo and Espanyol, where the players stopped moving for 20 seconds.

This move comes in response to the decision of the Spanish League to move the Barcelona-Villarreal match to the American city of Miami, within the Spanish League “La Liga” competitions.

Barcelona was scheduled to meet Villarreal on the latter’s ground on December 20, but the League decided to move the match to the “Hard Rock” stadium in Miami on the same date, with the announcement of the start of ticket sales in the following week.

It is worth mentioning that the match that witnessed the protest ended with a narrow victory for Barcelona with a score of 2-1, where substitute Ronald Araujo scored the winning goal in the third minute of added time.