A lot of anticipation has been building around the La Liga as it resumes on Thursday with the new rules in place in the wake of the pandemic.
Indeed, it will be interesting to see on Day I of the restart as to how Sevilla and Real Betis cope with the new rules in the El Gran Derbi.
But powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid would continue to have the edge, thanks to the five substitutes rule, feels La Liga ambassador Frederic Kanoute.
"The rule does favour Madrid and Barca slightly. Look, we have to be honest that big teams have bigger squads anyway. They have around 25 top players who they can rotate and play, and performance doesn't change much.
"So of course, this is an advantage, especially at a time when you require a lot of rotation," the Malian-French former striker, adjudged African Footballer of the Year in 2007, said during a video conference on Wednesday.
Kanoute, though, backs his former club Sevilla, for whom he scored 89 goals in over 200 appearances, to give some fight to Barca and Madrid going forward.
"I always believe it's 11 versus 11 as football is played on the field. I remember in 2006-07 when we were close to winning the league, towards the end we got tired and couldn't maintain our rhythm since we had to play the Europa League and other competitions.
"I still hope Barca and Madrid are going to be challenged in the last few games and Sevilla will tickle them a little bit," Kanoute added.
Players' fitness levels could be an issue as they return after a long break, Kanoute stated. "It's a bit of a risk as well as a challenge.
"Having just a few weeks in hand to come back to shape is not at all an easy job. Generally, when you come back after a really long break, it takes two months to be in top shape and produce a top-level performance. Hopefully, players have worked hard at home, while I am sure clubs had better medical programme during the confinement and that the same will continue post return.
"Also, there's the desired level of technology that can assist well," he explained."
Combating racism
Talking about racism, Kanoute believes that the George Floyd incident has been a wake-up call for the society. To tackle this menace in football, he feels, stronger steps and measures should have been enforced much earlier.
"There is overt and covert racism. The overt racism maybe not so much there anymore, but covert racism is the big part. Hopefully, this will be a turning point now and a wake-up call for everybody," Kanoute, who also represented West Ham and Tottehnham Hotspur, emphasised.
He called for longer sanctions on clubs trying to protect or cover up the racist behaviour of their fans, players or coaches.
"… I think the clubs that are not taking any steps to tackle their (racist) fans should be punished. At a personal level also, anyone who is racially abusive should be banned. I think if we had taken more severe steps and measures a long time ago, we wouldn't have been in such a situation."
