Madrid (AFP)

The first FC Barcelona - Real Madrid clasico in La Liga will be played on October 25 at Camp Nou, LaLiga and the Spanish football federation announced on Monday after the traditional draw.

After this first poster, the Barça of the new coach Ronald Koeman and the Real Madrid of Zinédine Zidane, reigning champion, will face each other again for the clasico return of Liga on April 11 at the Alfredo di Stéfano stadium (or at the Santiago-Bernabeu, if the work and the evolution of the pandemic allow it).

Still remains the unknown whether the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, in full conflict with the management of the Catalan club and who wants to leave the club blaugrana now, will be present during these two meetings.

According to the draw made on Monday in the presence of representatives of five "heroic" professions during the pandemic (rescuers, surface workers, teachers, law enforcement and nursing staff), the six Spanish teams still competing for the month of August (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid in C1, Sevilla FC and Getafe in C3, Elche for the rise in La Liga) will face each other during the first day ... but later.

These three matches counting for the first day will indeed be played later in the season, to give these teams time to rest and prepare properly, after a 2019-2020 exercise interrupted between March and June by the pandemic, then finished in July.

The Atlético Madrid - Sevilla FC match will be played for example on January 12, 2021, and the Real Madrid - Getafe and FC Barcelona - Elche posters between February and March 2021.

The matches of the second day of La Liga will also be played later in the season for Atlético Madrid, Barça, Sevilla and Elche, who finished their season later than Real and Getafe, prematurely eliminated from the C1 and the C3.

Real Madrid should therefore start their La Liga season on the weekend of September 20 at Real Sociedad, while FC Barcelona will start a week later against Villarreal at Camp Nou.

The first matches of the 2020-2021 La Liga season will be played on the weekend of 12-13 September, eight weeks after the end of the 2019-2020 season.

The matches will be played behind closed doors, always with the aim of fighting the pandemic.

The 2020-2021 season of the Spanish championship will close on the weekend of May 23, 2021, with a Real Madrid - Villarreal poster in particular.

© 2020 AFP