Atletico Madrid President Enrique Cerezo has blasted the Spanish League’s (LFP) Vice-President in the row over kick-off times.
The LFP have decreed that some games in the first three rounds of fixtures for the 2012-13 campaign will commence at 11pm local time, while Atleti have been ordered to play their opening three games on Monday night.
Cerezo, who has intimated Los Rojiblancos may well refuse to play against Athletic Bilbao with a European Super Cup clash against Chelsea to follow on the Friday, pulled no punches in his assessment of LFP Vice-President Javier Tebas.
“I do not live off football, it is him that does that and very well too.
“My past is very clean and what I could not do is live off football as the Vice-President of La Liga,” Cerezo told Onda Cero radio.
“Let me say that the 11pm kick-offs are not because it is cooler for the players or because of tourism.
“We are not fools. They have been deceiving us for years by asking us to play at midday so they could see the game in China, but now they can’t see it in China or even Istanbul for that matter.”
The Atletico President did not rule out his club taking further action as the row threatens to escalate before the new season starts on the weekend of August18-19.
“Right now we are not planning to do anything but clearly a number of people are upset and we can’t rule out any possibility.
“It is a conflict of interests. There is a League for some and a League for others.
“We will fight for it to be a League for everyone,” he added.
