After flirting with relegation last season, Deportivo La Coruna were not expected to prove a very significant challenge for Real Madrid as they opened their La Liga campaign on Sunday, and the Estadio Riazor in Galicia proved to be a comfortable site to begin their title defense for Los Blancos.
Con la ópera de traspasos de Ousmane Dembele empeorando y Luis Suárez de baja hasta cinco semanas por una lesión de rodilla, el Barcelona abrió su campaña en La Liga el domingo con Lionel Messi asumiendo el peso de la ambición ofensiva de su equipo.
Pero la jugada del día no la brindó Messi, la brindó el único compañero argentino en el que puede confiar, Javier Mascherano.
I have already discussed the notion that Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is a hit man, and soon the whole world might get the proof it needs to accept this idea.
Here's Conte when asked about striker Diego Costa, who is currently pining as hard as he can for a move to Atletico Madrid, so much so that instead of flying from Brazil to Chelsea to report for training like he was told, he got on a plane to Madrid instead.
Liverpool have reportedly rejected a massive bid from Barcelona for WANTAWAY Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho.
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The bid reportedly amounted to $141 million, including add-ons.
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This is the third bid Liverpool have rejected for the little Brazilian.
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Coutinho reportedly submitted a transfer request via email just before the start of the Premier League season.
(check out these pictures of WAGs)
Real Madrid are going to win La Liga. It's better to come to terms with this now so you can actually enjoy the season. If you go into the season thinking someone else might have a chance and Real Madrid open up a 10-point lead by Christmas, you are going to be disappointed. So ward off the disappointment. Barcelona are depleted and Atletico Madrid are plucky but outgunned. Real Madrid are going to win La Liga.
This is fine! Lots of people enjoy the Bundesliga even though they know Bayern Munich are going to win. You can still enjoy the season even if you know how it ends already.
Before Pep Guardiola came down from the mountaintop proclaiming the new age of the 4-3-3 with attacking width providing by the wide defenders, nobody knew what a full back was. Sure, Roberto Carlos once struck a football so hard that we all admitted their existence, but that was all anyone knew about the position. What did they do? Why were they there? It was hard to know and even harder to explain.
Lionel Messi has agreed to sign a new contract with Barcelona, but Messi has not actually signed said contract yet.
This is obviously not good for Barcelona, who have to deal with the fallout from Neymar's transfer. Messi's current deal runs out after this season, but Barcelona have always maintained Messi would stay at the Camp Nou. It seemed like that was a certainty when La Pulga's new deal was announced earlier in the summer, to be officially signed when Messi showed up for pre-season training.
Real Madrid’s 5-1 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup wasn’t a Real marker, it was a proclamation: player for player, this is the strongest squad in the history of the game. No player on Real Madrid is irreplaceable, every player on Real Madrid is valued because they’re sensational.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation upheld Cristiano Ronaldo’s five-match ban on Wednesday, keeping the Real Madrid star out of Wednesday evening’s second leg of the Spanish Super Cup and the first four games of the La Liga campaign.
Ronaldo received two yellow cards in Sunday’s first Super Cup leg in Barcelona to be sent off early. His first came for taking his shirt off after scoring a brilliant goal. The second was when the referee deemed he took a dive in the box.