Barcelona’s La Liga fixture against Osasuna has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 27 — meaning the Catalan club will be without key first-team players due to their international commitments.

The match was initially due to be played on March 8 but was postponed following the death of Barcelona’s first-team doctor, Carles Minarro Garcia.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Monday that the game was to be played on March 27, three days before Barcelona’s La Liga game against Girona. Osasuna’s game in that round of matches against Athletic Club is due to be played on Friday, March 28. The RFEF statement does not mention this fixture but La Liga has indicated that it will be moved to another day that weekend.

Barcelona sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have expressed their unhappiness with the decision as the proximity of the rescheduled game to international fixtures means two players will not be available: Raphinha’s Brazil and Ronald Araujo’s Uruguay face Argentina and Bolivia respectively in World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday, March 25.

Those sources say the club will appeal the decision with the RFEF.

Isn’t the new date too close to the international matches?

Although the international break is usually seen as a two-week event, FIFA’s official match calendar lists the coming international window — the period in which confederations can organise fixtures and players must be made available for their national teams — as running from March 17 to March 25.

Technically, domestic matches can be scheduled at any time outside of that window.

Why couldn’t the game be played in a different midweek?

Barcelona’s progress in cup competitions — they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey — means there are fewer midweeks available for them to play matches and fewer still if they progress in the former.

Though the decision has been confirmed by the RFEF, a statement from the body quotes La Liga as saying March 27 was “the only date” for the postponed match.

The RFEF statement adds that Osasuna proposed the match be played on the weekend of April 26-27 (Copa del Rey final weekend) if Barcelona were eliminated by Atletico Madrid in their semi-final, May 7-8 if Barcelona reached the final but were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League quarter-final or in the midweek between May 18 and 25 (the penultimate and final La Liga matchdays) if Barcelona progressed in both cup competitions.

Barcelona, the statement says, agreed with the proposal. However, the RFEF said that “protecting the integrity of the competition” must come first and that the Barcelona-Osasuna game should take place “in the nearest possible date to the actual calendar”.

Barcelona paid tribute to Minarro ahead of their home game against Benfica earlier this month (Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

The RFEF points to the fact that in the penultimate and final La Liga matchdays, all the games take place at the same time to avoid any one side gaining a competitive advantage from knowing other teams’ results.

“Moving this match to the penultimate matchday could undoubtedly generate disadvantage and competitive uncertainty, being detrimental to all the teams involved, and therefore to the principles and values of the competition itself,” the statement said.

The RFEF does admit that “we are not unaware of the inherent inconveniences” of the March 27 date, “especially for the players who play international games who must withstand great distances for their return (from international duty)”. It says this especially affects two Barcelona players and two Osasuna players but that such difficulties are “inherent with the density of sporting calendars” and the death of Dr. Minarro presented a further “extraordinary situation”.

Which players may be unavailable?

It seems almost impossible for Raphinha and Araujo to play in the Barcelona-Osasuna game if they also feature for their countries, though Brazil and Uruguay respectively have six- and eight-point buffers in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualification table. Osasuna’s Enzo Boyomo is also in the Cameroon squad which plays a World Cup qualifier against Libya on March 25.

In addition, Barcelona have several players who may feature in the Spain-Netherlands Nations League quarter-final second leg on March 23: Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres and Frenkie de Jong.

Barcelona’s Jules Kounde and Osasuna’s Ante Budimir are similarly in the France and Croatia squads with those countries facing each other in a Nations League quarter-final second leg on March 23.

Robert Lewandowski’s Poland, meanwhile, face a World Cup qualifier against Malta on March 24.

Fermin Lopez, Gerard Martin and Pablo Torre are also part of the Spain Under-21 squad that has a friendly against Germany on March 25, though Barcelona are entitled to pull those players out as they are not playing in a senior competition.

Barcelona’s potential remaining fixtures

• Osasuna, home (La Liga), March 27
• Girona, home (La Liga), March 30
• Atletico Madrid, away (Copa del Rey semi-final second leg), April 2
• Real Betis, home (La Liga), April 5
• Borussia Dortmund, home (Champions League quarter-final first leg), April 9
• Leganes, away (La Liga), April 13 (TBC)
• Borussia Dortmund, away (Champions League quarter-final second leg), April 15
• Celta Vigo, home (La Liga), April 20 (TBC)
• Mallorca, home (La Liga), April 23 (TBC)
• Copa del Rey final, April 26
• Champions League semi-final first leg, April 29/30
• Real Valladolid, away (La Liga), May 4 (TBC)
• Champions League semi-final second leg, May 6/7
• Real Madrid, home (La Liga), May 11 (TBC)
• Espanyol, away (La Liga), May 14 (TBC)
• Villarreal, home (La Liga), May 18 (TBC)
• Athletic Club, away (La Liga), May 25 (TBC)
• Champions League final, May 31

(Top photo: Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)