La Liga

With Spanish giants Valencia currently sitting in the relegation zone of the La Liga table, multi-billionaire chairman Peter Lim is reportedly set on bringing Mexican international Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez to the third largest city in Spain by triggering his £40.7 million release clause.

Valencia’s horrid start to the season resulted in the early firing of Pako Ayestaran, but Los Che have acted quickly to replace him with former Fiorentina and Italy manager Cesare Prandelli.

James Rodriguez has been the subject of death threats on Twitter as revealed by his mother. The Colombian international received a photo of a box filled with ammunition and a gun while a couple of other weapons are also visible in frame. 

“Do you want to see how James would look dead?” said the message from the anonymous user. “I’m coming to your house now, say goodbye to all your loves ones.”

For one brief moment, let us consider the duck. To the casual observer watching from the riverbank, the duck seems to glide across the water with immaculate ease. The only noticeable deviation from the otherwise placid surface is a slight ripple emerging behind the bird, a sign that the water has been elegantly parted by the smooth feathers before collapsing back to form. 

From a distance, the movement of the duck is relaxing, calm and refined.

It was surprising to see Zinedine Zidane given the manager’s position at Real Madrid after the sacking of Rafa Benitez. His only previous experience was in charge of the reserve side, Real Madrid Castilla, for 18 months, and his record didn’t speak well for himself. 

Barcelona missed a chance to climb to the top of the La Liga table with a shock 4-3 defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday. With Celta Vigo in the bottom half of the table, a Barcelona squad without the injured Lionel Messi was still expected to emerge with three points in Galicia. 

However, notable mistakes from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ted Stegen, defender Jeremy Mathieu and midfielder Sergio Busquets essentially handed the victory to the home side. 

The fact that soccer is a way of life in many if not all countries in the world is no mystery. 

In some places, families bet their savings and livelihoods on the skills of a young Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, hoping that their son will be the next big thing in the ever-changing environment that is the soccer world. 

Most of the time, these bets don’t pay off and many times, especially in countries where soccer is put ahead of school, they even backfire. Nevertheless, there are a few seeds that grow and eventually turn into amazing stories.

The Associated Press reported a plane supposedly owned by Cristiano Ronaldo skidded off a runway Monday in Barcelona because of a landing gear problem.

Ronaldo was not aboard the plane (obviously), which he reportedly owns but leases out to corporate clients when he isn't using it.

Andres Iniesta is capable of producing the wholly original — his skill on the pitch is of the once in a generation variety. In this regard, you have absolutely no hope of replicating him. 

At 32 years of age, he’s still completed an average of four successful dribbles (taking on your marker and retaining possession) throughout the beginning of the 2016-17 La Liga season. That’s more than Lionel Messi.