La Liga to return on June 11

According to Alex Kirkland of ESPN on Friday, La Liga, the top soccer league in Spain, will return to play on June 11. The league initially was targeting a late May start, however coronavirus has completely decimated the country of Spain, and it is no surprise the return date has now been pushed approximately two weeks later than initially planned.

There are currently 285, 644 cases of coronavirus in Spain and 27, 121 deaths. Spain presently has the fourth most cases of coronavirus in the world. The only countries with more cases are the United States (1,789, 290 cases), Brazil (465, 166 cases), and Russia (387, 623 cases).

Spain also has the sixth most deaths of coronavirus in the world with 27, 121. They are behind the United States (104, 410), Great Britain (38, 161), Italy (33,229), France (28, 714), and Brazil (27,878). Even though the coronavirus cases in Spain are extremely high at the moment (658 new cases on Friday), they only had two fatalities.

All La Liga games will be played in empty stadiums. The safety protocol was developed by La Liga and the Spanish Ministry of Health.

At the time of La Liga’s decision to shut the soccer season down because of coronavirus, FC Barcelona had a narrow two-point lead on Real Madrid in the La Liga standings. FC Barcelona was at 58 points (18 wins, five losses and four draws), while Real Madrid was at 56 points (16 wins, three losses, and eight draws).

Currently, Lionel Messi of Rosario, Argentina leads La Liga with 19 goals. The FC Barcelona forward has five more goals than Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema of Lyon, France, who is second in La Liga with 14 goals.

The first game back in La Liga will see Sevilla play Real Betis. Sevilla is third in La Liga with 47 points (13 wins, six losses, and eight draws). Real Betis is tied for 12th in La Liga with Levante at 33 points. Real Betis has eight wins, 10 losses, and nine draws.