The fate of the rescheduled Euro 2020 soccer tournament will not be decided until March but organizers UEFA are hoping that vaccination efforts will allow them to stick to their original plan for June's pan-European tournament.
The 24-nation, month-long showpiece, a major revenue generator for the continent's soccer governing body UEFA and the national federations across Europe, was postponed by 12 months after last year's COVID-19 outbreak.
When Spain's soccer federation signed a lucrative deal in 2019 to export its rebooted Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, they did not envisage matches in empty stadiums across southern Spain and tired teams negotiating record snowfall in order to get to them.
But that is what they will get when the mini-tournament begins on Wednesday after coronavirus restrictions in Spain and the gulf state forced organizers to overhaul their initial plans and re-think the competition to fit today's unprecedented times.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois joined coach Zinedine Zidane in criticizing organizers LaLiga for not postponing his side's game at Osasuna on Saturday due to a snowstorm.
The match finished 0-0, denting Real's title bid, after they were ordered by LaLiga to travel to Pamplona the day before the game due to storm warnings, but had to wait for four hours on the icy runway before taking off.
Maybe you were watching Manchester United vs. Manchester City in the Carabao Cup (why?). Maybe you were watching the fall of the U.S. Capitol (that’s more sensible). Either way, you missed Lionel Messi crafting a staggering monument to his own genius on the San Mamés pitch Wednesday during Barcelona’s 3-2 LaLiga victory over Athletic Club
Twitter rn pic.twitter.com/AL6wGSZQ6K
At the end of September, Luis Suárez left Barcelona on a free transfer amidst tears and sadness. The Culés needed a renewal of players and a cleaning of the locker room after a nightmare 2019-20 season that closed with that 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
In the year 2021, Lionel Messi will turn 34 while Cristiano Ronaldo turns 36 in just one month’s time. Playing in their first matches of the New Year on Sunday, the duo showed just how important they remain to their respective clubs by providing match-winning moments.
Over in Spain, Messi returned from his extended winter break to appear in his 500th LaLiga match for Barcelona. He’s the first non-Spanish player to reach the milestone, and among active players, only Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos (505) and Real Betis’ Joaquín (565) have more.
Coming into the latest edition of the Basque Derby, both Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad had endured a dry spell of form.
After winning eight of nine games through late November, Sociedad drew six consecutive games before losing its next three. Having spent time at the top of the table this season, La Real's poor run saw it drop down to third. Athletic, on the other hand, has experienced inconsistency all season. Traditionally the more successful of the Basque giants, it now sits 12th in the table.
Javi Gracia's Valencia fell to a 2-1 defeat against Granada on Wednesday, the side's second consecutive loss.
FULL-TIME pic.twitter.com/iZr8NS9AwP
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) December 30, 2020
Ten-man Granada defeated nine-man Valencia on Wednesday in one of the most ridiculously officiated games you’ll ever see at the highest level of professional sport. Adrián Cordero Vega was the man in the middle, and his performance included a questionable decision at the monitor followed by three red cards in six minutes.
There’s no shame in being excited by the collection of USMNT talent in LaLiga. The trio of Sergiño Dest, Konrad de la Fuente and Yunus Musah already represents a golden age of Americans in Spain’s top flight, although there’s something incredibly U.S. Soccer about the fact that they currently boast almost as many international caps as they do LaLiga appearances.