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La Liga appeal decision to move Barcelona-Real Madrid Clasico to Dec. 18

La Liga have announced they will appeal in a legal court and to the Spanish Sports council against the decision by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to move the season's first Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid to Dec. 18.

The Competition Committee of the Spanish FA ruled on Wednesday that Barcelona's home league game against Real Madrid would be rescheduled for Dec. 18, as was the request of the two clubs.

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It was La Liga who last week requested the Spanish FA to postpone the Clasico, originally scheduled for Sunday at the Camp Nou, due to the social unrest in Catalonia.

However, the Spanish FA turned down La Liga's proposal to reverse the fixture and play the game at Madrid's Bernabeu stadium instead.

A La Liga statement statement read: "In view of the resolution made by the Competition Committee and the documents in the report, La Liga has decided to appeal to the legal courts and to the Consejo Superior Deportes [Spain's Sports Council]."

The ruling is expected to take months, meaning it will come long after the game is played.

The league said it didn't ask for a stay on the match because that would only "generate uncertainty among fans in Spain and across the world" who want to see the game.

La Liga are opposed to the game being played on Wednesday, Dec. 18 as it is on a day when there are Copa del Rey games being played and it does not fall on a weekend, when they expect to reach a bigger number of global television audience.

La Liga believe the game should be played at the earliest possible date for the two teams and, after reviewing the calendar, that would be Dec. 4.

"La Liga and the RFEF decided to expressively leave available that date in the event that a game was postponed or suspended in the first half of the league," La Liga stated.

Moreover, La Liga said they are surprised the Spanish FA have turned to the two clubs and not to La Liga to suggest a date for the Clasico.

"There is no rule, not from a federation or La Liga standpoint, that establishes that after the postponement of a professional game due to exceptional circumstances, it's the clubs are the ones that have to, via an agreement, have the authority to choose another date.," La Liga said.

The statement added that it is "not reasonable nor legal" to deprive La Liga of the power to arrange the date for one of the biggest games of the season themselves.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.