This weekend, the first Madrid derby between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid takes place. It will be at 16:15 on Saturday, September 27, at the Metropolitano Stadium. Atleti has home-court advantage this time, but their players will have had less rest time than Madrid: 65 hours between one match and the next, which is less than the standard (minumum) of 72 hours between one football match and the next.
Atleti played against Rayo Vallecano (3-2 victory) on Wednesday at 21:30 CET. Real Madrid played against Levante on Tuesday at 21:30 CET (4-1 victory).
As a result, Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) complained to LaLiga and asked for the match hour to be changed. LaLiga did not accept their request, as pushing the match to Sunday would have harmed Real Madrid: they have a long trip ahead to Kazakhstan, near China, where Real Madrid will play a Champions League match against Kairat. Had it been played on Sunday, Real Madrid would have had barely 48 hours to rest, with a 13-hour flight in between.
In exchange, Atleti was allowed to play two Liga games in a row at home, to at least reduce the fatigue of travelling (although both games, against Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano, were against teams from the same city).
"Given the increased risk of injury and the deterioration caused by post-match fatigue suffered by footballers, it has always been non-negotiable for AFE that players who participate in two matches per week have a recovery time of between 72 and 96 hours", AFE said in a statement last March.