World Soccer magazine, established in 1960, has been handing out their Player of the Year award since 1982, establishing itself as one of the most well-respected accolades in the game. Since 2005, the winner of the World Soccer Player of the Year has subsequently been named the Ballon d’Or recipient.
Heading into Saturday’s El Clasico on the wrong side of a six-point gap in La Liga is a less than ideal situation for Barcelona, but the mounting injuries among their defensive back line make the task at hand that much more difficult.
Real Madrid lead the Spanish league with 36 goals scored, and Barcelona’s defensive record of 14 goals conceded puts them behind the likes of Real, Atletico, Villareal and even with Real Sociedad.
With the approach of El Clasico everything must go under the microscope. The designated referee for the match, Carlos Clos Gomez, has not been left unturned in that regard. According to some, Clos Gomez exhibits a distinctly pro-Barcelona flair, and they’ve got the statistics to prove it.
Toni Kroos has announced his intention to retire. Maybe. In six years, at the end of his Real Madrid contract.
As a winner of the World Cup and the Champions League, maybe Kroos feels like he should go out on top, should he stay on top for the next six years?
From Kicker:
At this point, we should all be familiar with the continuous vacuum of noise surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo. Detractors claim he’s not the player he once was, Ronaldo scores eight La Liga goals in four matches. Haters claim that he’s egotistical and self-obsessed, he shows just how good this has made him and what it’s earned him.
Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta returned to training Friday and could yet play a significant role in Saturday’s El Clasico against Real Madrid. The original timeline for Iniesta’s recovery, stated as six to eight weeks, made his participation an extreme doubt.
Barcelona survived a scare earlier today when Neymar got into a car accident while driving his red Ferrari (of course Neymar drives a red Ferrari, what were you expecting?) to meet up with the team before they traveled to the Basque region to play Real Sociedad.
Fortunately, Neymar wasn't hurt, nor was anybody else, as far as we can make out.
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona meet for the 173rd La Liga edition of the El Clasico on December 3, 2016. As always, the famous rivalry between the two largest clubs in Spain will have a significant bearing on who captures this season’s title: Real Madrid are currently first in the table while Barcelona are second. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the match, either live streaming online or on TV through your cable provider.
Real Madrid confirmed that Gareth Bale suffered damage to the tendons in his right ankle during Tuesday’s Champions League victory over Sporting Lisbon, but the severity of the injury was confirmed this morning via Madrid’s official Twitter account.
Barcelona have signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with Rakuten, an electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo. The deal will pay Barca almost $60 million per year for four years, with the option of a one-year extension and even more money should certain bonus criteria be met.
Barcelona’s current deal with Qatar Airways, a partnership which began back in 2011, currently nets them around $35 million per year, but the Catalan side are now set to nearly double that yearly income with Rakuten as the primary sponsor.