El Clasico date switched to December 23

The date for the first El Clasico of the season has been changed to December 23, keeping in mind that Madrid might play in the Club World Cup final in Japan on December 17.

Published : Sep 11, 2017 15:15 IST

La-Liga president Javier Tebas confirmed on Monday that the first El Clasico of the season between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be played on December 23 at 1:00 pm (1200GMT).

The clash was expected to take place on December 20 as part of a full midweek round of fixtures before Spain's winter break.

However, given Real could feature in the Club World Cup final in Japan on December 17, the European champions have been given extra recovery time.

"It will be played on Saturday 23rd at 1300. That is what we have told the television companies," Tebas said. "That week, given it is Christmas time we will have a very special round of fixtures with games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

Due to La-Liga's ambition of rivalling the Premier League's interest around the world and getting television rights deals to match, Tebas has engineered radical changes to kick-off times in Spain with Asian audiences in mind.

Real's 1-1 draw with Levante on Saturday lunchtime went head-to-head with Manchester City's blockbuster Premier League clash against Liverpool.

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