Real Madrid fans are unique. As supporters of the most successful club in the history of Europe — if not the world — they look down on all others, especially that pesky club from Catalonia.
The only club that can really challenge Los Blancos’ superiority in Spain is, of course, Barcelona, so the rivalry is understandable intense. No other team brings out the best (or worst) in Real.
In Felipe’s case, it was the worst.
With Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé all sidelined through injury, new signing Antoine Griezmann took center stage in Barcelona’s 5-2 victory over Real Betis at the Camp Nou on Sunday night.
After losing their season opener last Friday against Athletic Bilbao, Barça’s nightmarish start continued when Nabil Fekir opened the scoring for Betis in the 15th minute.
Is Messi injured still? That’s the question on every Barcelona fan’s mind as the Blaugrana prepare for their second LaLiga match of the 2019-20 campaign.
Sadly, it appears their talisman, Lionel Messi, is still out injured.
For the second straight week, Messi was not included in Ernesto Valverde’s LaLiga squad. In his place is 16-year-old phenom Ansu Fati.
After a year-and-a-half together at the Camp Nou, it’s likely that Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho have ended their time together as teammates on the pitch.
Money is becoming increasingly inflated in soccer over the last five years. It seems like each year a new record transfer fee is set both at a club level and international level. This has been possible thanks to incredible broadcast rights fees in other countries that then trickle down to teams in each league. Teams then have more money to spend on players and clubs take advantage of that, setting ridiculous asking prices for their players as the sponsorship money just rolls in alongside the lucrative TV deals and funding from club owners.
Dani Alves made his debut for São Paulo FC, the club he’s supported his whole life, in Brazil’s Série A today, and it’ll come as a surprise to absolutely no one that he marked the occasion with a game-winning goal.
The 36-year-old has been synonymous with two things throughout his illustrious career: (1) his unmatched penchant for winning, including 40 trophies won, and (2) his ability — although he’s one of the best right backs of all time — to play anywhere on the pitch, including goalkeeper.
I could describe for you the 89th-minute Aritz Aduriz goal vs Barcelona, or I could let the stellar Ray Hudson’s words speak for themselves as he gushed over the “magisterial” strike.
“A goal that will give you physical arousal.”
“As cool as James Bond in a white tuxedo.”
“A goal that would make Ebenezer Scrooge smile.”
“Perfection from Aduriz.”
In January of 2018, Philippe Coutinho became the second-richest transfer in soccer history when he moved from Liverpool to Barcelona. Essentially a replacement for Neymar, who had months earlier become the richest transfer ever, Coutinho never really quite fit in, as the impending Coutinho Bayern loan deal illustrates.