Aston Villa officials have expressed their unhappiness with the Premier League for bringing forward a match against Tottenham by two days to help Spurs maximize preparation time for a potential appearance in the Europa League final.
The match was due to be played on Sunday, May 18, but will now take place on Friday, May 16 — five days before the title match in the Europa League in Bilbao, Spain.
Tottenham leads Bodø/Glimt 3-1 from the first leg of the semifinals, with the return match on Thursday in Norway.
The fixture rearrangement gives Villa — a team chasing Champions League qualification — two fewer days to prepare for Tottenham, which might also choose to play a stronger lineup now there is more time to recover for a possible European final.
It also will affect travel and logistical arrangements for some Villa fans.
Monchi, president of football operations at Villa, took to X to say the change in match date “is not what we wanted” and represented “the least damaging alternative.”
“Our fans didn’t deserve (it),” he wrote on the social network site, “but we tried hard to keep the match to protect the most important for us: YOU and OUR TEAM.”
Damian Vidagany, Villa director of football operations, went further in a long post on X, saying there was a “clear prejudice” toward Villa fans and bemoaning the fact that his club “didn’t feel this support” over its last two European campaigns — in the Europa Conference League last season and the Champions League this season.
“European football is not only demanding for English clubs just on the verge of the finals,” Vidagany wrote.
Villa is in seventh place in the Premier League and in a battle with five other teams to secure the remaining four Champions League qualification spots on offer. Liverpool, the already crowned champion, has already qualified.
While it is commonplace in other countries, there has been no precedent for the Premier League moving games to benefit clubs playing in Europe.
Manchester United is also in the Europa League semifinals and holds a 3-0 lead over Athletic Bilbao from the first leg in Spain last week.
United will be playing a Premier League game on Friday, May 16, too — against Chelsea. So United and Tottenham would have the same amount of preparation time should they both reach the Europa League final.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
