Granada Real Sociedad were forced to play with seven senior players

Despite having only seven senior players available due to corona virus restrictions, Granada are said to be advancing in the La Liga match against Real Sociedad.

Diego Martinez’s side were told that only players who tested negative for COVID-19 and did not travel to Cyprus in Thursday’s Europa League match against Omonia Nicosia could be named in their squad.

It was confirmed on Saturday that Martinez and striker Antonio Puertos had isolated themselves after showing signs of the virus.

Croydon asked the Royal Spanish Football Association (RFEF) to postpone the match against Sociedad in Anosetta because they could not select a sufficient number of players.

At the time, they issued a statement: “The league only allows players with a positive IGG index or a negative PCR to Granada and allows those who do not travel to Cyprus to travel to San Sebastian.

“Under these circumstances, the club is seeking to postpone the match as it does not meet the minimum number of players available from the first team required for the controversy of an official match.”

However, in a statement on Sunday, Granada said the RFEF’s rival committee had rejected their request.

“The RFEF competition committee has rejected the club’s request to postpone the match against Real Sociedad,” Granada said in a statement.

“In the next few hours the team will travel with only seven players to meet the requirements set by La Liga for San Sebastian, which will be completed with the subsidiary’s footballers and the youth team that will meet these requirements.”

Granada are sixth in La Liga, winning four and losing one of their opening seven games in 2020-21.

Sociedad are 17 points ahead of league leaders Atletico Madrid, although they are likely to fall to second place by kick-off as a result of their clash with Villarreal’s Getafe.

The match is a kick-off at 16:15 CET, however the team is to be eliminated along with the reserve players.