Spain

If he continues like this, Martin Ødegaard will be playing for Real Madrid next season. It’s been nearly five years since he made his first and only LaLiga appearance for Los Blancos at the age of 16 years and 157 days, but now aged 21, Ødegaard is finally shining in Spain’s top division while on loan at high-flying Real Sociedad. 

Barcelona and Real Madrid played to a scoreless El Clásico draw for the first time in 30 years with the match largely failing to live up to the extreme prematch hype. 

With three goals in the opening 20 minutes of today’s 3-2 victory over Athletic Bilbao, Real Betis captain Joaquín became the oldest ever hat-trick scorer in LaLiga history.

Mexican internationals Andrés Guardado and Diego Lainez both got the start for Betis at the Benito Villamarín, but it was Joaquín — at the age of 38 years and 140 days — who stole the show with the first three-goal game of his glittering 21-year career. 

Despite Antoine Griezmann scoring his first league goal in seven weeks with a sumptuous chip and Lionel Messi recording a record-breaking 35th hat-trick in LaLiga, all anyone wants to talk about nearly 24 hours after Barcelona’s captivating 5-2 victory over Mallorca is the Luis Suárez effort that the Uruguayan striker is labelling the best of his career. 

Barcelona returned to the top of the LaLiga following a crucial 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday, and it was a sensational Lionel Messi effort in 86th minute that secured all three points for the visitors.

It was a surreal moment on Saturday when Gareth Bale entered Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad in the 67th minute to a torrent of boos and jeers from the Santiago Bernabéu. Los Blancos supporters are a notoriously demanding bunch — even Cristiano Ronaldo received his share of whistles inside the legendary stadium — but nothing comes close to the reception that Bale was given upon replacing 18-year-old Brazilian phenom Rodrygo.

Argentina’s 1-0 friendly victory over Brazil on Friday — thanks to Lionel Messi’s goal in the 13th minute — created quite the conversation on Twitter. From Messi telling Brazil manager Tite to shut up after he believed Messi should’ve been given a yellow card to penalty misses from both Gabriel Jesus and Messi, it was quite an entertaining match.

It’s happening with increasing swiftness: Spain’s golden generation is tiki-takaing out of existence. The latest to announce his retirement from the game is 37-year-old striker David Villa, who’ll call it quits in either December or January (depending on if Vissel Kobe can reach the final of the Emperor’s Cup).

Villa was a monster for Valencia, Barcelona, Sporting Gijón, Zaragoza and New York City FC, as well as the Spanish national team — although injury conspired against him for some of his generation’s finest moments. 

Four days ago, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp ruled out a move for PSG’s Kylian Mbappé while lamenting the fact that no club could possibly afford the 20-year-old phenomenon. On Tuesday, Real Madrid reportedly said hold my beer and began preparing a $440 million bid for the World Cup winner.