Vigo mayor Abel Caballero has said lives would have been at risk if Sunday's game between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid had gone ahead and expressed concern at rumours that the visiting club tried to put pressure on authorities.
Later, Real Madrid released a statement objecting to the mayor's characterisation of the club's involvement -- calling his words "inappropriate" and "totally inaccurate."
Winds of up to 140 kilometres an hour hit the Galician city on Friday night, dislodging parts of the roof at the Celta's Balaidos stadium, and Caballero made the decision to call off the game following an inspection early on Saturday.
Even though Deportivo La Coruna's game against Real Betis on Friday had been postponed for similar reasons without any opposition, Madrid reportedly remained keen to play the game to avoid fixture congestion later in the campaign.
Local media reports floated the idea that Madrid could send their own technicians to fix the stadium roof in time, or the game could be moved to another venue.
The Spanish FA even flew the referees to Galicia on Saturday, with their plane having to be diverted as it was not safe to land in Vigo due to storms, before La Liga finally announced the postponement late on Saturday evening.
"Once I had taken the decision at noon on Saturday, the issue was closed," Caballero told AS. "I do not care about all that is said, or who says it. My technical staff decided that there was a risk to the safety of people, and no game. La Liga showed common sense and I want to believe that the Madrid directors did the same.
"I want to believe it, because if anyone wanted to put people's lives in danger it would be completely foolish."
Asked about the idea that Madrid might have sent experts to quickly fix the damage to the municipally owned stadium roof, Caballero said: "I had not heard that. What a crazy idea!
"If they had said it to me, I would have laughed openly, and I would not have let anyone climb up, whether they were from Real Madrid or not. No worker could have climbed up.
"In this country there are rules that must be followed. Some people have to understand that there was a risk to people's lives. This is just football. The game will be played some other day."
He said a suggestion that Madrid staff had wanted to put pressure on the authorities by telling their fans to travel to Vigo on Sunday was "extremely serious."
"Someone told me that some Madrid employees had told their fans to go to the stadium, knowing there was no game," he said. "If that happened, it is extremely serious, and a danger to public order and security. I want to believe it was only a rumour, as if it is true then the [government public safety] 'Antiviolencia' committee would have to intervene.
"I have a good relationship with [Real Madrid president Florentino Perez]. I want to believe that he was not involved in any of this."
Official Announcement.
👉 https://t.co/Pc4MmFxspF#RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/wTwN3gXcMJ
- Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) February 6, 2017
Madrid's statement said the club "regret the unfortunate statements made by the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, in which he states that this club disregarded the security measures required for the Celta Vigo v Real Madrid fixture to go ahead."
"Not only are the mayor's comments inappropriate, they are also totally inaccurate, because at no point in time did Real Madrid question the security measures in place at Balaidos."
Madrid also confirmed they had made pleas to keep the game on Sunday, citing fixture congestion as well as a loss of revenue for television networks.
"Real Madrid wishes to make it very clear that having learned of the possibility of the game being postponed more than 30 hours ahead of kick-off, the club proposed three alternatives to the Professional Football League: firstly, for consideration to be given to the possibility of repairing the damaged stadium roof; secondly, the possibility of the affected stand being closed; and thirdly, if the two aforementioned options were not possible, to look into staging the fixture at another nearby stadium."
Marca reported on Monday that a La Liga rule that says clubs must provide an alternative stadium to play in if construction work means a game cannot go ahead was not followed. It is not clear whether the rule applies in an emergency situation.
The European champions remain unhappy about the situation, according to reports in the Madrid media.
Marca's front cover on Monday morning was headlined "They tricked us" and added that "Madrid do not hide their indignation with the postponement," saying: "Their annoyance is due to the lack of alternatives. Their great worry now is they will kick off next week having played three games fewer than Barca."
#LaPortada "Nos la han jugado" https://t.co/RjNYbuFuge ¡Buenos días y #FelizLunes!
- MARCA (@marca) February 6, 2017
Both Marca and AS claimed that Madrid are so incensed by how they have been treated by La Liga's authorities that the idea of leaving for a European Superleague is now closer.
AS editor Alfredo Relano, though, was critical of the club's stance on Monday morning.
"Madrid has reacted childishly," Relano wrote. "The club recognised that with the postponement, the opportunity to play against a weakened Celta disappeared and so tried to save the game with unrealistic solutions.
"Florentino's Madrid has become a specialist in looking bad in these emergency situations. It happened when hooligans cut the floodlight cables minutes prior to Los Blancos' game at Rayo in 2012. It is a setback, of course, but if the mayor of Vigo says that the ground (which is municipal) cannot be opened for security reasons or fixed on time, there is nothing we can do."
Madrid played a practice match including youth teamers on Sunday as a result of the postponement.