My favorite Thibaut Courtois moments are when he looks like Frankenstein’s monster, letting out a world-weary scream while the football rolls through his way-too-long-legs.
“Why would my creator make me like this?! All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” Courtois can frequently be heard saying.
BARCELONA — With Barcelona's glory days rapidly becoming a fading memory, presidential hopeful Victor Font believes luring former midfield great Xavi Hernandez back to the club would spark another golden age for the Catalans.
Xavi, one of the architects of Barca's decade-long rule of world football, is the coach of Qatari side Al Sadd but has agreed to play a leading role back with Barca if Font wins the club's election on Jan. 24.
While Font expects to see Xavi, 40, in the Barca dugout at some point, he is equally enthusiastic about the long term role he can play.
Time waits for no one at FC Barcelona, but there’s a feeling in Catalonia that this squad — the club’s youngest in the last decade — has an incredibly promising core of young talent centered around the likes of Ansu Fati, Francisco Trincão and Sergiño Dest.
LaLiga has slashed spending limits for its clubs by $724.25 million for the 2020-2021 season due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain's top soccer league said on Tuesday.
Barcelona's salary cap has been cut to $454 million from last season's $796 million, while defending champions Real Madrid can spend $555 million, down $205 million from last season's spending limit.
Lionel Messi must stay at Barcelona so he can lead the team for the remainder of his career and play a strategic role when he retires, the club's presidential candidate Victor Font told Reuters.
The six-times World Player of the Year and Barca’s all-time top scorer came close to leaving the Catalans in August after his relationship with then president Josep Maria Bartomeu turned sour. But the Argentine can leave the club, where he has spent his entire career, for free at the end of this season unless he pens a new contract before the end of June.
Atletico Madrid and Uruguay forward Luis Suarez has tested positive for COVID-19, the Uruguay national team said in a statement on Monday.
Uruguay's statement said top scorer Suarez and stand-in goalkeeper Rodrigo Munoz plus a staff member had tested positive. Other members of the squad had all tested negative ahead of Tuesday's World Cup qualifier at home to Brazil.
Atlético Madrid striker Luis Suárez has talked up his side's LaLiga title chances ahead of next week's showdown against former club Barcelona, saying his side's strong start to the campaign could give them an edge.
Atlético have won five of their first seven games and are the only unbeaten side in the top flight, while champions Real Madrid and Barça have already lost two games each. Real Sociedad are top of the standings with 20 points while Atlético are third on 17 but have two games in hand. Real Madrid are fourth, while Barça are eighth.
Wales assistant manager Robert Page said Gareth Bale is back in love with soccer, having rejoined Tottenham Hotspur following a tough period at Real Madrid, and that could help the forward shine for the national team.
Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has defended his goal celebrations that involve him wearing the masks of different superheroes after being criticised by Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos.
Speaking on his Einfach mal Luppen podcast, Germany international Kroos said this week that he was not a fan of the former Borussia Dortmund striker's celebrations and did not believe it was the behaviour of a good role model.
MADRID — Sergio Ramos is set to become the most capped European footballer of all time when Spain visit Switzerland in the Nations League on Saturday.
The Spain captain, who last year became his country's all-time appearance maker, is in line for a 177th match which will take him ahead of former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon as the continent's most capped player.