Madrid's Alonso: Protests over Miami LaLiga game 'positive' - ESPN

Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso backed player protests over LaLiga playing a regular-season game in Miami, describing the move as «positive.»

Barcelona's game at Villarreal is set to be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Dec. 20, with tickets due to go on sale next week.

On Friday, in the first LaLiga game of the weekend — Real Oviedo vs. Espanyol — the two teams paused for the first 15 seconds, in a protest that players' union AFE said was aimed at the league's «lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence» in staging the Miami game.

The global television feed of the match did not show the protest, with an exterior shot of the stadium being displayed instead.

«We're against the [Miami] game, because we believe it influences the competition,» Alonso said in a news conference on Saturday. «There isn't unanimity among all the participating clubs [in the league]. We haven't been consulted.

»The protests are positive, because it's the feeling of many clubs. [The Miami game] has been done unilaterally, and that's what we're against. If there's unanimity, it can happen, but that isn't the case."

In Saturday's early game, Sevilla vs. Mallorca, the players' protest was briefly shown on screen after kickoff, before cameras cut to the Sevilla bench.

In a statement on Friday, AFE said captains of the 20 top-flight LaLiga teams were in favor of the protest — which would take place at the start of all this weekend's games — although the union said Barcelona and Villarreal players had not been asked to take part.

Alonso refused to say whether he would support further action from players, including a possible strike. «My answer is the same, and our position is the same,» he said. «The decisions that need to be taken will probably be