The transfer saga embroiling Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Neymar reached a crescendo on Wednesday, although only the most ardent of Neymar and Blaugrana supporters wouldn’t have seen it coming. Barca released a statement confirming Neymar’s desire to leave the club for around $263 million, and Neymar informed his teammates of his decision before missing the day’s training session.
The start of major European leagues looms and fans are anxious to see how their teams fare on opening weekend. But how much does the first match even matter? After all, it's a long season and teams have plenty of time to rebound from week one losses. Or do they?
Looking at the statistics, it appears that the first game can set the tone for an entire season. It can either give a burst of confidence or present an omen of troubles ahead.
While Neymar hasn’t entirely exited Barcelona, he has shown himself the door at Thursday’s training session in Miami. With Barca slated to play Real Madrid Saturday in a friendly, Neymar’s bust-up with new signing Nelson Semedo is exactly what the tabloids craved.
Atletico Madrid are in Mexico for a series of friendlies, and manager Diego Simeone is finding the country to his liking. The Argentine, known for his intensity and his being linked to seemingly a different club every week, has built Atletico Madrid into a powerhouse despite limited resources compared to rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.
He also has a bit of an adventurous spirit, judging by his comments regarding a potential move to Mexico.
The hype for the 2017-18 La Liga season has been decidedly low-key, and for good reason. Is there really any stopping Real Madrid? The club’s loss of Alvaro Morata hasn’t exceptionally weakened them, and capturing Kylian Mbappe would mean that we’re about 20 years away from parity being restored to European competition.
Fans flocked to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California to watch 12-time European champions Real Madrid play three-time winners Manchester United with talents like Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial on display.
But the script was flipped when Ronald McDonald was seen leading the players from both squads onto the pitch, and the McDonald’s clown provided the summer’s best moment by staying alongside the referees and shakings hands with the players.
El Clasico is one of the most important fixtures on the European club season calendar. The two biggest clubs in Spain, and among the biggest in the world, rarely fail to put on a good show. Some of you may remember this from the last time they played El Clasico:
The current saucy transfer rumor in the soccer world is French giants Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly come knocking at Barcelona's door inquiring after Neymar, for a reported near quarter-billion dollar fee. Neymar is said to be interested in this offer, as the Parisiens have reportedly offered to double his wages.
This move might happen and it might not. For the moment, though, Neymar is still a Barcelona player, and what a player he is. The Brazilian forward scored one pretty good goal and one PRETTY GOOD goal against Juventus in the International Champions Cup Saturday.
Barcelona appear to be more and more resigned to losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain and with good reason. As a club that continually lures top talent behind the ethos of “You don’t say no to Barcelona”, the Blaugrana aren’t in the business of begging players to stay, no matter how important they are to the side’s makeup.
It's safe to say that Zinedine Zidane is aging remarkably well. The 45-year-old quickly transitioned from a Champions League winning player to a Champions League winning coach, and he looks as if he hasn’t aged a day in-between. He's got the kind of sideline presence that'll make your mom stop and stare at the television before saying something about how Americans are sure as s**t a lot fatter than Europeans.