The Navarrese club will appeal to Appeal and criticize Barça: «They would do well to review their recent actions in their history»
The Disciplinary Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed on Friday the appeal of CA Osasuna claiming the possible improper alignment of central Iñigo Martínez during the match against FC Barcelona at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on the twenty-seventh matchday of LaLiga EA Sports (3-0), which took place on March 26.
«In this case, the RFEF, by allowing players to leave the concentration without imposing any limitations on them, as well as subsequently issuing the decertification, is implicitly expressing its willingness not to apply said prohibitive rule, understanding that they could play with their club,» said the committee’s ruling.
On March 28, the Navarrese club filed an appeal with the Competition Committee of the RFEF claiming that Iñigo Martínez’s participation in the match violated Article 5 of Annex I of the FIFA Statute and Transfer Regulations, which specifies that a player who does not join his national team’s call-up for medical reasons, or leaves it, may not play matches with his club during the five natural days after the end of the international period.
The Basque defender was called up by coach Luis de la Fuente for the quarterfinals of the Nations League against the Netherlands, but was released after it was confirmed that he had an internal parameniscitis in his right knee, which led Dean Huijsen to take his place in the call-up. The rojilla entity emphasized that this exclusion from the ‘Roja’ list, justified by medical reasons, made it «evident» that the player was not «able» to play on Thursday.
Osasuna confirmed that they received the communication of the resolution this same Friday and that they will file an appeal to the RFEF’s Appeals Committee, all in a harsh statement in which they questioned the decision made by the Disciplinary Committee.
In this regard, they explained that it is «an objective fact» that the required five days had not elapsed between the decertification, which they believe did not occur by «agreement» but by a medical absence, and the match. Thus, they do not agree that in the news of their departure from the national team there is an implicit communication of the RFEF’s willingness not to apply the rule.
«What is evident, objective, and demonstrable is the explicit communication, where there is no reference to ‘allowing players to leave the concentration without imposing any limitations.’ There is no reference in the public communication made on the RFEF website, nor in those received by CA Osasuna and FC Barcelona on March 17 regarding the medical absences of their players Bryan Zaragoza and Iñigo Martínez,» they added.
In this sense, they pointed out that the resolution is limited to certifying that the medical services of the national team validated the medical information provided by FC Barcelona. «The medical circumstances surrounding this case are of particular interest since the player’s absence from the call-up is due to medical reasons, and it is his meteoric recovery that leads to his participation in the League match,» they stated.
They also compared the case of Iñigo Martínez with that of Osasuna’s Bryan Zaragoza. «CA Osasuna sent Bryan Zaragoza to Las Rozas on Monday, March 17, as they could not guarantee the completion of complementary tests in Pamplona in a timely manner – before 1:00 p.m. on March 17. It is surprising, therefore, that the medical report from FC Barcelona in the file that the RFEF validated is dated March 16 when their match against Atlético de Madrid ended that same day at 11:00 p.m. and was sent by email to the RFEF at 2:33 in the morning on March 17 upon the arrival of the expedition to their city without any mention of a complementary test, which is also not included in the file,» they pointed out.
«There is not even a mention in the file or in the Competition resolution that such tests, requested by the head of the RFEF medical services, have been carried out. Nor does the medical report contain any details,» they continued.
Finally, they strongly criticized the Barça club. «The entity expresses its surprise at the comment made by FC Barcelona that ‘it is inappropriate for a club with the history of CA Osasuna’ to raise suspicions of possible fraud when it is very reasonable to harbor serious doubts in this regard given the facts described. It is astonishing that the said comment, as cynical as it is devoid of content, comes from those who would do well to review their actions in the most recent period of FC Barcelona’s history,» they concluded.
FUENTE