MADRID: With or without Lionel Messi, Barcelona already know they will start their season at home against Villarreal at the end of September.

La Liga announced its calendar on Monday, and the first round is scheduled for the second weekend of September. But Barca, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla who played later into this past season as they participated in the last stages of the Champions League and Europa League will have some of their games postponed so they have time to prepare.

All matches will continue to be played in empty stadiums. The league hoped at least some fans would be allowed into matches, but Spain has been struggling to contain a new surge of coronavirus cases.

Messi, who last week told Barca he wants to leave, skipped the team’s first day of training on Monday at the club’s Ciutat Esportiva training ground, where Ronald Koeman held a session at 5:30pm, his first since being appointed Barca coach. He had already been a no-show on Sunday as the squad underwent coronavirus testing at the club’s training centre.

Messi wants to leave on a clause that allows him to leave for free at the end of the season, but Barca said that clause has expired. They want the Argentine great to stay at least until the end of his contract in June 2021.

There is no sign of how long the dispute is going to last, as neither the club nor the player appear to be willing to make concessions.

La Liga said on Sunday that the only way a club can sign the Argentine forward is if he triggers a release clause of 700 million euros ($836 million).

Barca’s first match would have been against promoted Elche at Camp Nou Stadium, with the second against Athletic Bilbao.

The first clasico against Real Madrid will be on October 25, also at Camp Nou. Barca and Real will then face each other at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 11.

Spanish champions Real, who also returned to training on Monday, will debut in the second round at Real Sociedad. Only Real’s first-round game was postponed as they didn’t reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

The champions’ derby with Atletico is set for December 12 at the Santiago Bernabeu and March 7 at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Atletico host Granada in their first game of the season while Europa League winners Sevilla travel to newly-promoted Cadiz.

The first games of the new season will be played on the weekend of September 12, eight weeks after the 2019/20 campaign ended on July 19. The league is scheduled to finish in May 2021.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2020