Barcelona

Barcelona winger Francisco Trincão scored his first goal for the club to snatch a 3-2 win away to Real Betis on Sunday as Ronald Koeman's side pulled off a second comeback victory in the space of four days.

Barça coach Ronald Koeman took the surprising decision to leave Lionel Messi and the in-form Frenkie de Jong out of his starting lineup and saw his side fall behind to a Borja Iglesias strike on the counterattack in the 38th minute.

Barcelona racked up 79 percent possession and 36 shots (20 on goal) in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey match against Granada, 29 more shots that the host. The end result was a 5-3 victory that was anything but easy, despite the final score and the wildly mismatched statistics. 

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann fired Barcelona to a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga on Sunday, avenging their recent defeat to the Basque side in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Messi curled in a free kick after 20 minutes for his 650th Barça goal on the day the club pledged to sue Spanish newspaper El Mundo for publishing the full details of the Argentine's contract.

Just when you thought Barcelona had turned the corner with four straight league wins and a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, here comes that nasty debt of $1.42 billion and the ugly realization that the greatest footballer of all-time is headed out the back door again! (Along with another Luis Suárez brace for Atlético.) 

MADRID — Lionel Messi returned from suspension to help guide Barcelona to a 2-1 win away to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey.

Barca dominated the match and hit the woodwork three times but second division Rayo took a surprise lead in the 63rd minute when Barca keeper Neto failed to deal with a low cross and midfielder Fran Garcia pounced to bundle the ball over the line.

Madridistas, Culés, Colchoneros, Sevillistas and anyone that enjoys seeing the beautiful game played beautifully in one of the world’s most awe-inspiring countries rejoice: ESPN is reportedly on the verge of acquiring the U.S. rights to LaLiga! 

If you’re FC Barcelona, do you want the good news first, or bad news? The good news is that, according to Deloitte’s annual report for the world's richest soccer teams 2021, Barcelona was the highest-earning club in 2020! The bad news is that total revenue was decreased by nearly $153 million, a precipitous fall of 15 percent from 2019’s earnings. Oh, and you’re also $1.46 billion in debt.

Barcelona overcame the absence of a suspended Lionel Messi to earn a 2-0 win away to struggling Elche in LaLiga on Sunday thanks to goals late in each half from midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Riqui Puig.

BARCELONA — Barcelona's coach Ronald Koeman is not happy that they are playing Thursday's Copa del Rey last-32 tie away to third division Cornella on an astroturf pitch but said he will not make excuses should his side suffer a shock defeat.

Cornella knocked out LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid in the last round with a 1-0 win and Cup shocks are becoming much more common in Spain since the competition format changed last year, eliminating two-legged ties.