Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has hit out at LaLiga’s plans to hold a league match in the USA in December.

Villarreal vs Barcelona is set to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on December 20, which would make it the first European league match in history to be staged overseas.

On October 6, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin approved moving of the LaLiga fixture and also sanctioned a Serie A match between AC Milan vs Como to be played in Australia, but described the decisions as “regrettable” and that it “shall not be seen as setting a precedent”.

Last weekend, LaLiga players launched protests against the league’s decision with teams standing still for the first 15 seconds of matches.

Commenting on the Miami match ahead of Real’s visit of Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, Courtois said: “LaLiga does whatever it wants because it suits them. This decision distorts the competition.

“Playing at home is not the same as playing away. In LaLiga, playing away is very difficult, as we saw against Real Sociedad and Getafe. Villarreal away is tough. It’s not fair to change the rules mid-season without consulting us.

“The NBA has 82 games, and the NFL’s owners collectively approve these decisions [to play matches abroad]. Here, LaLiga acts unilaterally. It’s not the same.”

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone added: “I won’t believe it until I see it.

“The home team loses the advantage. Their fans won’t be there, and they have to travel thousands of miles.

“We need to respect the fans.”

Barcelona players ‘not happy’ – and protests not televised

The first protest came from players in Oviedo’s match against Espanyol on Friday, but it was not shown on live television as expected, with the feed cut to the exterior of the stadium for the first 25 seconds of the game.

The game came just hours after the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) announced that protests would be held straight after kick-off in games from Friday through to Monday.

The players’ union said in a statement: “Players will protest in a symbolic fashion to denounce the lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence of LaLiga regarding the possibility of playing a game in the United States.”

The union said the captains of the 20 top-flight sides were in agreement with the protest. But the union added it had not asked the Barcelona and Villarreal players to participate in the protest, even though, the union said “they share the basic premise of the protest”.

Earlier on Friday, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick and his players were not pleased at having to travel over 7,000km to play a regular season game.

“My players are not happy, I am not happy, but LaLiga decided that we will play this game,” Flick said.

However, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has defended the move by saying it represents an opportunity to further push into the American sports market.

Similarly, LaLiga president Javier Tebas says the game aboard is a key to boosting “revenues in the mid-to-long-term” and increasing the value of his competition’s television rights.