Madrid - Chaos and confusion continues to surround Sunday's clash between Real Madrid and Levante. For two weeks now, Real have been planning to convert the match into a macro-fiesta to celebrate their 31st Liga title.
The only problem is this - it is still not clear if Levante are going to turn up to the party.
The Levante players have been on strike all week and have refused to train.
For two years now they have been complaining about not being paid properly, and they now claim that the modest Valencia club owes them millions of euros in salaries and bonuses.
The bonuses, of course, are from last season's promotion triumph, not from their dismal displays this season in the top flight. Partly because of the financial uncertainty, they have never looked capable of consolidated themselves in La Liga and were relegated four weeks ago.
They are now rock bottom with just 26 points from 37 games.
But before they return to second division anonymity, the long-suffering Levante players want to take advantage of their last chance to be in the spotlight - and to put pressure on the club's directors.
They are still not sure what to do on Sunday. One of the options they are considering - according to Marca on Friday - is to travel to Madrid with just seven players, the minimum allowed by the Spanish federation.
As soon as the game starts, one of the seven would claim to be injured - forcing the referee to abandon the game.
Real have expressed solidarity with the Levante players and have given up on the idea of inviting a foreign team over for a friendly.
Instead, the whites are working on Plan B: to have a first team versus reserves game up their sleeve, in case Levante refuse to play or the game is quickly abandoned.
A capacity 80,000 crowd is expected, as usual, in the Estadio Bernabeu, and the champions obviously want to give them some form of entertainment.
But how can Real plan anything without knowing the intentions of the Levante players?
Radio station Cadena SER commented on Friday morning that "this is one of the most bizarre situations in recent years in Spain...and could become even stranger on Sunday."
