This weekend's 2021-22 La Liga Round 9 clash between Granada and Atletico Madrid has been postponed until a later date. It was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, but it has been canceled, as officially confirmed. "The CSD has communicated to LaLiga the approval of the precautionary request for postponement requested, corresponding to Day 9 of LaLiga Santander," said La Liga in a statement.
This request for postponement responds to the already known fact of the extension by FIFA of the international period of Conmebol selections until Thursday night, October 14 (early morning of Friday 15, in Spain).
That affects, among others, the aforementioned clubs due to play their official UEFA Champions League matches on Tuesday 19 October. The dates and times for holding the postponed matches will be communicated by LaLiga in the coming days."
Granada vs Atletico Madrid: Why was the La Liga 2021-22 match postponed?
The Spanish league's plea to postpone a pair of weekend matches featuring clubs with players on international duty with South American nations was granted on Tuesday, October 12, by Spain's top sports body. The Real Madrid vs Athletic Club matchup and the duel between Granada and Atletico Madrid will be played at a later date.
FIFA has extended the international window for the second time in a row, allowing South American countries to play a third World Cup qualifier less than two days before domestic competitions in Europe started. Some players would not be able to return to their clubs with adequate recovery time to participate in their league matches. Atletico would have been without three players if the judgment had gone against them: Argentina's Rodrigo de Paul and Angel Correa, as well as Uruguay's Luis Suarez.
For the same reason, the league has previously postponed games between Barcelona and Sevilla and Villarreal and Alaves last month. The Spanish soccer association has spoken out against the postponements, claiming that having a local league halt matches because players were called up by their national teams set a "dangerous precedent for international sports." Remember that you can watch the 2021-22 La Liga season live on ESPN+ in the US.
