Spanish Clubs

Is there a weirder new normal than what Real Madrid is experiencing? As well as playing behind closed doors, the 13-time European champion's temporary home for the rest of the season is the 6,000-seat Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium, the reserve side's ground.

Located on the sprawling training center in Valdebebas, players don’t arrive to the stadium by bus, they just sort of appear on the horizon at Ciudad Real Madrid and meander over like a high school team. 

Atlético Madrid hammered Osasuna 5-0 away from home in LaLiga on Wednesday to secure their biggest win of the season and give a huge boost to their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

Atleti's record signing João Félix put the visiting side ahead by arriving in the box and drilling the loose ball into the top corner in the 27th minute, scoring again soon after the re-start by nudging home a fine pass from Diego Costa.

João Félix First Goal Vs. Osasuna 

Real Madrid showed no rust as Los Blancos dusted off their pristine white kits to sweep aside Eibar 3-1 in both clubs’ return from a three-month hiatus on Sunday at Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium. If anything, the necessary COVID-19 interruption helped reinvigorate the Merengues, who looked sharp from the opening kick.

MALLORCA — LaLiga's organising body has said it is filing for criminal action against the man who ran on to the pitch during Real Mallorca's behind-closed-doors match against Barcelona on Saturday to try to get a photo with Lionel Messi.

The fan, wearing an Argentina shirt with Messi's name and number 10 on the back, breached strict security measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus by going onto the pitch early in the second half.

Lionel Messi set up two goals and scored one himself as Barcelona returned to the pitch and returned to the win column on Saturday. Three months after LaLiga halted play due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Blaugrana had few problems beating relegation-threatened Mallorca 4-0.

Messi was in the middle of three of the four goals and debuted his adorable new quarantine haircut.

The LaLiga season resumes on June 11 and then — with 11 match weeks still to be played — goes off on a tear with games every day until July 17. This means that clubs will be playing matches every three to four days until the season’s over, and with players lacking match fitness, squad depth will be tested over the coming weeks with young players given a chance to shine. 

LaLiga will use virtual images of stands in television broadcasts with added “fan audio,” produced by the makers of the FIFA video game, when it returns to action on Thursday.

Domestic broadcasters in Spain will offer their viewers the choice of a “natural” broadcast of games played behind closed doors with no fans but the international audience will receive only the enhanced broadcasts with added audio and graphics.

BARCELONA — After an almighty push by all parties concerned, Spain's LaLiga roars back into action next week after a three-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with matches taking place every day and with everything to play for.

The season resumes on Wednesday in bizarre circumstances with the second half of a Segunda Division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete that was abandoned in December due to offensive chanting.

It’s been a tale of two halves for Schalke 04 this season. 

The arrival of Jürgen Klopp protégé David Wagner was hailed as a progressive step forward after a disastrous 2018-19 campaign that saw the club flirt with relegation, and that excitement was thoroughly justified through 18 games as Schalke climbed as high as fifth in the Bundesliga.