Real Sociedad climbed above Atletico Madrid and into fourth place in La Liga after defeating Espanyol 2-1 on Friday. Carlos Vela’s sixth league goal, his second in two games, and Asier Illarramendi’s wonder strike secured the three points for Sociedad.
Vela opened the scoring in the 26th minute after brilliantly controlling a pass from Inigo Martinez and finishing with composure.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the foundation launched by the International Olympic Committee to combat performance-enhancing drugs in sports, has spoken out against Spanish football over its “alarming” lack of drug testing.
Elite goalkeepers have to be extremely accurate with their punts. You can't just lump it down the field and hope your team comes up with the ball if you play for one of the best clubs in the world.
Inaccuracy is not a concern for Real Madrid goalie Keylor Navas, who knocked the phone out of an unsuspecting BBC producer's hands at a recent training session. Better yet, the producer was recording video at the time, so we get to watch this:
After escaping the Balaidos in Galicia with a 0-0 draw in the first leg, supporters of Deportivo Alaves knew that a chance at history was theirs at the Estadio Mendizorrotza, home of the club since 1924. Never in the 96-year history of the club had they reached the Copa del Rey final, and the second leg against Celta Vigo was played on a knife edge.
Just under 20,000 crammed into the stadium in Basque Country to see if their club, which is playing in La Liga this season for the first time since 2005-06, could advance to play 28-time winners Barcelona.
How exactly does a goalkeeper go about scoring on a punt?
Like this:
WATCH: Goalkeeper on goalkeeper crime in Spain's third division pic.twitter.com/SG087doQPm
— Planet Fútbol (@si_soccer) February 6, 2017
And that celebration!
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at the Camp Nou in the Copa del Rey semifinal second leg, and Barca advanced to the final, 3-2 on aggregate. That description does absolutely no service to what's just transpired in Catalonia.
This match included three red cards, a wrongfully disallowed goal, a ridiculous free kick from Messi that thundered off the crossbar, a contentious penalty, a missed penalty and all the other drama you’ve come to expect from a match between these two clubs.
To paraphrase George Orwell, all fans are drunk, but some fans are drunker than others.
Drinking at matches is sometimes enjoyable and sometimes a big problem, and many fans, especially those in rabid supporters sections, ride a unicycle down that line. One fan at Osasuna vs. Real Sociedad Sunday was probably riding a unicycle at one point, but he fell off it.
Take a look at this guy.
Here's a lesson for all you kids out there: if you ever have a free kick, just smash it. That's the lesson Brazilian great Rivaldo gives to prodigies at La Masia, so why not? Just approach the ball like Barca B's Gerard Gumbau like Rivaldo and utterly annihilate the thing. It'll fly into the corner, you'll be the hero and you'll get promoted to the Segunda Division. That's the theory.
In a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldinho revealed that Pep Guardiola, rather than wanting to move forward without the Brazilian star as was believed, actually wanted him to stay before he left for AC Milan.
Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad has silenced many critics, especially after both Sevilla and Barcelona dropped points. Real now have a four-point lead with a game in hand at the top of La Liga. But such is the nature of the beast at the Santiago Bernabeu that Zinedine Zidane is still facing questions over a poor January that included a stretch of one win in five matches and elimination from the Copa del Rey.