Barcelona vs. Real Madrid El Clasico Set for Dec. 18 but Could Face Legal Battle

El Clasico has been moved to Wednesday, December 18 after Saturday's planned game between Barcelona and Real Madrid was postponed because of political unrest in Catalonia.

The first Clasico of the 2019-20 season was scheduled to take place in Week 10 of the season. ESPN's Sam Marsden reported the fixture has been changed to Dec. 18, although La Liga officials would prefer it to be played on Dec. 4 or Dec. 7. 

Spanish football's governing body, the RFEF, released a statement (h/t Mirror's Alex Richards) that read: "The Competition Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation has agreed today to set for December 18."

However, Spanish football writer Sid Lowe said the date could be subject to further changes:

As Lowe predicted, La Liga rejected the proposed date, per Collin Millar of Football Espana.

Barcelona lead Real Madrid by a point at the summit of La Liga entering Week 10. Los Blancos saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end when they lost 1-0 at Mallorca on Saturday.

Protests have raged in Catalonia and Barcelona in particular after Spain's Supreme Court jailed nine pro-independence leaders for their roles in the failed independence bid of 2017, per Andy Gregory of the Independent.

La Liga initially suggested that the match go ahead on Saturday but be played at Real's Santiago Bernabeu, and Marsden wrote league organisers don't like that the new date is not on a weekend.

Real quickly confirmed the new date on Twitter:

Sky Sports presenter David Garrido agreed with Roman de Arquer of La Liga Lowdown that the fixture should still take place on its original date provided there are assurances over safety:

Ernesto Valverde's side have won their last four league games in a row and have benefited from Lionel Messi's return to fitness after an early-season calf injury.

Real, meanwhile, have won only two of their last five matches and haven't beaten Barca in the league since April 2016—they've drawn or lost against their fierce rivals six times in La Liga since then.

Talk of a potential legal battle between Spain's football powers goes against the wishes made by Valverde on Tuesday, per The Spanish Football Podcast:

El Pais journalists Blanca Cia, Jose Marcos and Josep Cata Figuls reported on Tuesday that Barcelona has suffered losses of €2.7 million (£2.3 million) in "destroyed urban furniture" following the violence between protesters and authorities. They cited information from trade and tourism association Barcelona Oberta, which said stores experienced a drop in sales of up to 50 percent.

Joaquin Maroto of AS wrote La Liga president Javier Tebas feels clashing fixtures—including Copa del Rey games and Liverpool's FIFA Club World Cup semi-final—could hurt the "overall economic value of the Clasico."

Marsden added that further protests and a demonstration are scheduled to take place on Saturday, the original date on which El Clasico was supposed to be staged.