Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso backed player protests over LaLiga playing a regular-season game in Miami, describing the move as "positive."

Barcelona 's game at Villarreal is set to be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Dec. 20, with tickets due to go on sale next week.

On Friday, in the first LaLiga game of the weekend -- Real Oviedo vs. Espanyol -- the two teams paused for the first 15 seconds , in a protest that players' union AFE said was aimed at the league's "lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence" in staging the Miami game.

The global television feed of the match did not show the protest, with an exterior shot of the stadium being displayed instead.

"We're against the [Miami] game, because we believe it influences the competition," Alonso said in a news conf

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