Enrique Setién Solar

No football has been played in Spain's top flight since March in an attempt to slow down the spread of COVID-19, which has killed over 19,000 people in the country.

With lockdown measures being eased, LaLiga president Javier Tebas suggested last week that the league could be back up and running by May 29 at the earliest.

According to a leaked proposal, players and coaching staff would be quarantined in a hotel or in their club's training ground to prevent an outbreak, with regular tests to be carried out ahead of games.

However, Barcelona head coach Setien, whose side lead Real Madrid by two points at the top of the division, is pessimistic about the apparent plans to complete the season.

"Everyone wants to be ready for when the season starts again, but that cannot happen until the health authorities can guarantee that there will be no problems," Setien told radio station RAC1.

"I have read the protocol and the reality is I don't know if it can be carried out as it is written. I think it's unworkable. I think it's very difficult logistically."

Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) officials reportedly met on Thursday, with contingency plans if the season cannot resume said to have been high on the agenda.

Reports in Spain suggest the current top four - Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Real Sociedad - will be awarded Champions League berths for next season if there is no resumption.

Many sports have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with the multi-billion dollar football industry dealt a potentially ruinous blow as clubs and leagues face up to an existential threat.

While Setien remains certain at least one constant will remain, with Messi continuing his Barcelona career into 2020-21, he sees the wider game suffering and wonders if it should have been better prepared.

Asked whether any club could now afford a fee such as the €222million it took to buy Neymar out of his Barcelona contract two and a half years ago, Setien frowned at the prospect.

"No. I don't think there is anyone who can spend that much," he told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"And small clubs have water in their throats. Many companies lived on the limit and at the first serious jolt they went into crisis. Football lived at an uncontrolled pace."

Setien says there is a great need for football to return, but he harbours reservations about rushing back onto the field.

The Spanish season could resume in June, with clubs set to return to training this month.

"It is clear that everyone's desire is to start again, and we are preparing," Setien said.

"However, it is equally clear that the situation is not simple, and is made up of three elements: the heart, which pushes hard towards the field, health, which must remain the top priority, and the economy, because this crisis has hit hard.

"We are experiencing a dramatic moment and although we have a huge desire, even an extraordinary need to return to play, we want to do it only in complete safety. Ours and whoever is with us: warehouse workers, masseurs, employees..."

Setien has no doubt six-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi will be along for the ride, for the rest of this season and into next term, discounting the possibility of a close-season departure.

Friday marked 15 years since Messi scored his first goal for Barcelona, and one year since he netted his 600th for the club.

It is said to be stipulated in Messi's contract that he can walk away on a free transfer at the end of each campaign, but there is such a tight bond between the Argentinian and the Catalan club that it seems unlikely.

Inter have been credited with an interest in Messi, but Setien is not concerned, even if there has been conflict between the club's star man and senior management, most notably sporting director Eric Abidal, this season.

"No, because it won't happen," Setien said, when asked if he was worried. "Messi and Barcelona will always be united. It's just like that. Leo has been at Barca for 20 years and nobody could explain a breakdown situation.

"Certain things happen at such big clubs, it is normal that there are conflicts. But they get resolved. There is a great feeling in the relationship between Messi and Barcelona, ​​something that goes beyond money and interests.

"Everything must be done so that Messi is supported at his best so that Barcelona can continue to win as in the last 15 years."

A favourite of Johan Cruyff's mighty 'Dream Team' of the early 1990s, the pressure is on Koeman the coach to get Barca back to winning trophies at home and in Europe after last season's miserable ending.

He will have a chance to earn some sizeable brownie points against a Madrid side who are reeling from back-to-back defeats to Cadiz and Shakhtar Donetsk, results that have placed much of the pre-game scrutiny on Koeman's opposite number, Zinedine Zidane.

As the former Netherlands boss looks to end a two-game winless run for Barca in Spain's grandest fixture, we look at how his predecessors fared in their first Clasicos in LaLiga...

PEP GUARDIOLA. BARCELONA 2-0 REAL MADRID. DECEMBER 13, 2008.

Both dugouts featured coaches taking charge of teams in a Clasico for the first time and it was Guardiola who got the better of Madrid's Juande Ramos.

Late goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi earned Barcelona the victory as they moved 12 points clear of Madrid in the table too.

That victory occurred during a 10-game winning streak in LaLiga and it was no surprise that Barca, who beat Madrid 6-2 later in the season, went on to win the title.

TITO VILANOVA. BARCELONA 2-2 REAL MADRID. OCTOBER 7, 2012.

The two clubs had already met in the Supercopa de Espana at the start of the season, Madrid winning on away goals after both teams had won a leg apiece.

Their first league meeting of 2012-13 was all about Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi as both men scored twice in a 2-2 draw.

Ronaldo scored for a record sixth successive Clasico to put Madrid ahead and, after Messi had netted a brace, Los Blancos' Portuguese star took his tally to 160 goals in 155 games since his 2009 move from Manchester United with an equaliser.

GERARDO MARTINO. BARCELONA 2-1 REAL MADRID. OCTOBER 23, 2013.

All eyes were on new recruits Neymar and Gareth Bale and it was the former who scored first to set Barca on their way.

Alexis Sanchez would double that lead and though Jese Rodriguez pulled one back, Madrid fell to a defeat that left them six points behind Barcelona after just 10 league games.

Both teams would finish the campaign on 87 points, a total not good enough to win the league as Atletico Madrid claimed 90 to be crowned champions.

LUIS ENRIQUE. REAL MADRID 3-1 BARCELONA. OCTOBER 25, 2014.

The Blaugrana had claimed 22 points from the first 24 available but they suffered defeat at Santiago Bernabeu in October 2014.

Barca debutant Luis Suarez, back after a four-month ban for biting, set up Neymar for a fourth-minute opener but the home side stormed back.

An in-form Ronaldo levelled from the spot with his 21st goal of the season before Pepe and Karim Benzema scored in the second half.

ERNESTO VALVERDE. REAL MADRID 0-3 BARCELONA. DECEMBER 23, 2017.

Los Blancos' awful start to the 2017-18 campaign continued as Barcelona moved 14 points clear of the defending champions with a comfortable win at the Bernabeu.

Suarez, Messi and Arturo Vidal all scored while Madrid, who had beaten Barca in both Supercopa de Espana legs at the beginning of the campaign, had Dani Carvajal dismissed for handball.

It was the first time Barcelona had won three successive league matches at the Bernabeu in Clasico history, and they went into the last match in our list with four straight victories at the ground.

QUIQUE SETIEN, REAL MADRID 2-0 BARCELONA, MARCH 1, 2020.

Setien, who took over from Valverde in January this year, had Barca on a four-game winning streak in LaLiga ahead of their trip to the capital.

What followed was a miserable outing for the Catalans, as second-half goals from Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz – in his first league appearance of the season – secured the win for the hosts.

The result lifted Madrid to the top of the table and set them on course to win the title after the coronavirus-enforced break to the season. Setien was sacked in August, his final game in charge that humiliating 8-2 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich.

The Barcelona superstar went head-to-head with Ronaldo for almost a decade in LaLiga, where the two scored at an astonishing rate and practically assumed shared custody of the Ballon d'Or.

Debate rages over who the world's best player is, but a shortlist of two is almost universally accepted – it is either Messi or Ronaldo.

The Portugal forward has since departed for Juventus, but Messi ​– who won a record sixth Ballon d'Or in December – has fond memories of their long-running Spanish saga.

"The matches against Real always mean a lot, but when Cristiano was there they became much more special," said Messi.

"But it's a time that has passed now, that we have experienced. Now, we have to look ahead to the future.

"It was a special duel and it will remain [in people's minds] forever, because it lasted for many years and it is not easy to maintain such levels for a long time. 

"Plus, the teams we played in were also very demanding, both Real Madrid and Barca, the two best teams in the world.

"The sporting duel between us was very nice on a personal level and I think people had fun too, whether they were fans of Madrid or Barca, or even only football fans in general."

Barca this week appointed a new head coach, with Quique Setien replacing Ernesto Valverde, despite the club sitting joint-top of the table with Madrid.

The last Clasico clash ended 0-0 at Camp Nou in December, with Barca set to head to the Santiago Bernabeu in March.