Neymar will stand trial on corruption charges after losing his appeal. The Barcelona star is in hot water over financial details regarding his transfer from Santos to Barcelona four years ago.
Brazilian investment group DIS launched a complaint against Neymar, Barcelona, Santos and the company run by Neymar's parents, all of whom lost their appeals and will stand trial.
From ESPNFC:
After putting three past tournament dark horse Napoli on Wednesday, Real Madrid quickly turned around and showed just how frightening a prospect they are this season by defeating Espanyol 2-0.
The gap on Barcelona is four points, and Real maintain a game in hand. Cristiano Ronaldo, having just celebrated his 32nd birthday, remains a wizard on the wing. And they said he couldn't dribble anymore.
Barcelona and Alaves will face off in the 2017 Copa del Rey Final on May 27th at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid. Although the venue has already been selected, it’s incredible to think that a country that has been dominating European football in recent years can’t even set a location beforehand to play their domestic cup final.
This time around, the decision was made much quicker as Atletico Madrid had already offered to host the final months in advance, but the selection process in years past would sometimes take almost a month to determine a venue.
Fernando Torres está acercándose rápidamente a los 33 años, ha demostrado que el físico es temporal, pero la clase es permanente. Este gol fue algo ridículo de parte de El Niño.
¡GOLAZO DE CHILENA! El Niño @Torres acaba de regalarnos posiblemente el mejor gol del año. ¡Madre mía! #AtletiCelta 1-1 pic.twitter.com/K2MkEcMPQc
Real Sociedad climbed above Atletico Madrid and into fourth place in La Liga after defeating Espanyol 2-1 on Friday. Carlos Vela’s sixth league goal, his second in two games, and Asier Illarramendi’s wonder strike secured the three points for Sociedad.
Vela opened the scoring in the 26th minute after brilliantly controlling a pass from Inigo Martinez and finishing with composure.
On Sunday, the game that was supposed to see Celta Vigo take on Real Madrid the Estadio de Balaidos was postponed because of stadium concerns. Extreme weather on the Friday before the game had caused some damage to Celta’s home stadium and after a report presented by Vigo’s city council, Balaidos was not deemed safe for the game to go on.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the foundation launched by the International Olympic Committee to combat performance-enhancing drugs in sports, has spoken out against Spanish football over its “alarming” lack of drug testing.
Elite goalkeepers have to be extremely accurate with their punts. You can't just lump it down the field and hope your team comes up with the ball if you play for one of the best clubs in the world.
Inaccuracy is not a concern for Real Madrid goalie Keylor Navas, who knocked the phone out of an unsuspecting BBC producer's hands at a recent training session. Better yet, the producer was recording video at the time, so we get to watch this:
After escaping the Balaidos in Galicia with a 0-0 draw in the first leg, supporters of Deportivo Alaves knew that a chance at history was theirs at the Estadio Mendizorrotza, home of the club since 1924. Never in the 96-year history of the club had they reached the Copa del Rey final, and the second leg against Celta Vigo was played on a knife edge.
Just under 20,000 crammed into the stadium in Basque Country to see if their club, which is playing in La Liga this season for the first time since 2005-06, could advance to play 28-time winners Barcelona.