Real Madrid offer Bernabeu to Unionistas

It is the stand out tie of the last 32 of the Copa del Rey and not so much because of the teams involved, but because of the difficulties of finding a venue for the fixture. 

An option was to play it at next door, El Helmantico, a stadium which hosts 20,000 where rivals Salamanca CF UDS play. However, the bad relationship between the two clubs has ruled that out. 

The other option was to play in Zamora, just over 40 miles away, at the Ruta de la Plata stadium, but the capacity is only slightly more than the Las Pistas del Helmantico stadium, Unionistas' home ground. 

The club from Salamanca either have to play at home in front of just 5000 spectators including temporary seating or play elsewhere. 

The Spanish FA still have to approve Las Pistas because although it has already hosted two games in the competition, they were not on television. The stadium's poor floodlighting and infrastructure could be insufficient for TV broadcast for the game against Real Madrid. 

The opponents, Real Madrid, are waiting for news, but they are gettng impatient. So much so that 'Cadena COPE' reports that the club have offered the Santiago Bernabeu to host the match. 

An offer which coincidentally coincides with the comments of the Unionistas president, who said that he preferred to play at Real Madrid than a El Helmantico. 

In fact, according to the cited media outlet, Real Madrid will do everything they can so to organise the fixture. They would take charge of the organisational costs of the match and would hand all the gate receipts to their opponents. 

It is always said that when a small team gets a big side at the Copa del Rey, it is as if they had won the lottery. You could certainly argue that Unionistas have won two lotteries if the game gets moved to the Bernabeu.