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BARCELONA: La Liga’s plan to hold a Barcelona match in Miami in December has been called off because of “uncertainty” about the game within Spain, the Spanish top flight said in a statement Tuesday.
Champions Barca were set to face Villarreal in the United States on December 20, which would have been the first European league fixture to be played abroad.
La Liga said their promoter for the match decided to cancel the organization of the event because of “uncertainty generated in Spain in recent weeks.”
The Spanish topflight said they “deeply regret that the project, which represented a historic and unparallelled opportunity to take Spanish football to the international stage, cannot go ahead.”
Tickets for the game at the Hard Rock Stadium were due to become available on Tuesday but organizers said the presale was “delayed” before the plan was scrapped.
The match will now be held at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica home as normal.
European football governing body UEFA said they opposed the idea of games being played overseas but would allow it on an exceptional basis, along with a Serie A match in Australia in February between AC Milan and Como.
The plan to hold the match in the United States was criticized by various parties.
The Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) organized protests against it last weekend, with players from every team not moving for 15 seconds at the start of each league match.
Spanish giants Real Madrid also railed against it institutionally, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said Tuesday it would adulterate the competition.
Madrid captain Dani Carvajal told La Liga president Javier Tebas the game being held abroad would be “a stain” on the competition.
La Liga have been trying to hold a match abroad for several years.

LONDON: A long list of injured players and a tendency to pick up red cards are among Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca’s main concerns before Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Ajax Amsterdam as they look to steady the ship after a tumultuous September.
Midfielder Enzo Fernandez may return to action after missing a week with a knee issue but Maresca said Chelsea would not rush the Argentina international back as they look for their fourth straight win in all competitions.
“Enzo took part in the session yesterday. We have one more session this afternoon and we will decide with him tomorrow. It is not something we have to be worried about. It’s to try and protect Enzo,” Maresca told reporters on Tuesday.
Center-back Benoit Badiashile was the latest Chelsea player to pick up a knock last week, the sixth on the injury list.
“It’s difficult, especially because most of the injuries we had were one or two days before the game,” Maresca said.
“We’re trying to adapt. It’s complicated because sometimes you plan for some players to play one week, but then you need that player because of another injury.”

NO ‘PUNISHMENT’ FOR PLAYERS OVER RED CARDS
Chelsea are also facing an issue with player discipline after picking up four red cards in the last six matches.
“For sure, it’s something we can do better. Some of the red cards, we can avoid that ... the other side, they do not want to concede and they want to continue to be aggressive,” Maresca added.
“Personally, I’m not that kind of manager to punish players ... I have four kids, when they do something wrong, I do not punish them. I try to teach them to do the right things. I try to do this with the players too. This is the way I like to do things.”
But Chelsea, who had a three-match Premier League winless streak and lost their first Champions League game to Bayern Munich last month, have bounced back with a scrappy victory over Benfica and back-to-back wins in the English top-flight.
“We were not happy with the result at Bayern, but the performance, we were happy with. We knew that was a difficult game,” Maresca said.
“Benfica, we tried to prepare the game to win the game in the best way, but when you face this kind of club there are always things you can learn after the game. It is going to be exactly the same tomorrow.
“It’ll be a difficult game. (Ajax) are a club that have won this competition in the past. They want to prove to everyone that they can come here and beat us. We are going to try and do exactly the same.”
Chelsea are 18th in the Champions League table with three points from their opening two games, while Ajax are second-bottom without a point after two defeats.