Spanish Clubs

The year of Marcus Rashford continued Thursday as the Manchester United forward scored the lone goal against Real Betis at Estadio Benito Villamarín, giving the Red Devils a 5-1 aggregate victory and easy passage to the Europa League quarterfinals.

Before the World Cup, Rashford had a total of eight goals in 19 appearances across all competitions. Since the tournament in Qatar, the 25-year-old has found the back of the net 18 times in 24 games. The total of 26 from 43 is already a career best and the Red Devils are still competing on three fronts.

There are all sorts of stats and accolades that illustrate how talented Gavi is — the Golden Boy award, Spain's youngest goalscorer, the youngest World Cup scorer since Pelé — but he's a phenomenon best experienced live.

The sky might be falling on Barcelona (littered with fake cash featuring the word "MAFIA"), but Gavi's willing to take on that duel. "Lost cause" is not in the 18-year-old's lexicon. 

Despite playing down a man for over 30 minutes after Ronald Araújo's red card, Barcelona escaped with a 1-0 victory over Valencia at the Camp Nou on Sunday to keep second-place Real Madrid at a comfortable distance.  

Valencia, mired in 19th and desperate for every point, were left fuming at referee Javier Alberola Rojas for his decision to look the other way when Franck Kessié clearly fouled Fran Pérez in the area in the 85th minute.

Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 1-0 on Thursday at the Santiago Bernabéu in the first of two legs of their Copa del Rey semifinal. The victory came as a surprise to some as Barça were without star players Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé.

Last Sunday, Almería defeated Barcelona 1-0 in LaLiga for a shock result. Following back-to-back losses (the other to Manchester United) and with a less than ideal starting XI, Real Madrid seemed destined to win the first leg at home. That wasn’t the case, and it should’ve been a 2-0 win for Barcelona.