Dani Carvajal blasts decision for Barcelona vs Villarreal to be played in Miami

Carlo Garganese

21 Oct 2025 07:06 CDT
2 min read

Dani Carvajal has blasted the decision to play Barcelona versus Villarreal in Miami.

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There was huge controversy earlier this month when UEFA announced that - for the first time in history - they had given the green light for two domestic matches to be played outside of their country.

Current ETV

Daniel Carvajal

D (R)

Real Madrid

Daniel Carvajal

D (R)

Real Madrid

ETV Range

€3.9M - €5.9M

The two matches in question are Villarreal versus Barcelona in La Liga, which will be held in Miami in December, and Serie A's AC Milan vs Como in Perth, Australia in February.

There has been widespread criticism since the announcement, with a number of high-profile figures blasting the decision.

Carvajal slams Miami match

One of the main issues is that by playing league games abroad, you risk distorting the competition as it means that every team in the league does not have an equal amount of home and away games.

And this is something Carvajal is not happy about.

"Villarreal vs Barcelona in Miami? It's a clear adulteration of the competition," Carvajal said according to AS.

"It doesn't allow all La Liga teams to compete under the same conditions."

In Italy, both Adrien Rabiot and Mike Maignan have slammed the decision to play AC Milan's game against Como in Australia.

Rabiot called the decision to play abroad "completely mad", highlighting how footballers already play too many games and have a packed calendar.

Maignan said: “I totally agree with him. I don’t understand why we’re playing abroad.

“It’s a game in the Italian league, it should have been played at home. Now we ‘lose’ a home game.

“We have ambitious goals, we can’t leave anything to chance. It’s crazy to travel so many miles to play a match between two Italian teams. There’s been a lot of talk about schedules and players’ wellbeing. But as always, we have to adapt.”

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