Barcelona to face Real on a Monday

Spain's eagerly-anticipated 'Clasico' between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be held on Monday, 29 November to avoid a clash with regional elections in Catalunya.

Champions Barca will host Real, who top the standings by a point from their arch-rivals after ten games, for the match at the Nou Camp (8pm GMT).

The decision was taken to avoid "the security problems that the coincidence of the two events on the same weekend could cause," a league statement explained.

Last season's two 'Clasicos' were a key factor in deciding the outcome of a league totally dominated by Barca and Real, and the same is likely to happen in this campaign. Barca won both last term, edging the match at the Nou Camp 1-0 and winning 2-0 in Madrid, and pipped Real to the title by a record 99 points to 96. Valencia were third on 71 and Sevilla fourth on 63.

Manel Arroyo, a Barca director responsible for finance and marketing, told the club's television channel they would have liked the match to have been a day earlier on the Sunday.

"We asked for it not to be on the Saturday and we would have preferred it to be on the Sunday but we understand that the schedules of the authorities, the security services and the television companies were chock full," he said.