Having represented Spain 100 times and having appeared for Barcelona in almost 600 matches, center back Carles Puyol squared off against some of the world’s greatest players in a senior career that ran from 1999 to 2014.
The three-time UEFA Champions League winner and 2010 FIFA World Cup champion was himself on UEFA’s Team of the Year on six different occasions, so there’s probably no better judge of talent than Puyol himself.
It’s been a stunning week of goals for FC Barcelona Femení, Barcelona’s women’s team. First, Spanish international Jennifer Hermoso scored with a ridiculous sombrero flick and volley against FC Twente in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
While that goal had all the skill and technique of a Ronaldinho masterpiece, 24-year-old Olga Garcia has outdone her with this special effort against Betis in the Spanish Primera Division.
Listening to Zinedine Zidane’s post-game press conferences after Real Madrid drop points is kind of like listening to a broken record. After Real’s 3-3 draw with Legia Warsaw in Poland, Zidane once again came out and used the same excuses to describe his team’s performance. There was a:
Lionel Messi is hitting milestones so fast he's running out of milestones to hit.
In Barcelona's 2-1 win against Sevilla Sunday, Messi scored his 500th goal in a Barcelona shirt (friendlies included).
This Messi guy is decent (via @beINSPORTSUSA) https://t.co/bqM57szm20
— SB Nation Soccer (@SBNationSoccer) November 6, 2016
Cristiano Ronaldo has said he wants to finish his career at Real Madrid, and the club is giving him a chance to do just that. Ronaldo will reportedly sign a contract renewal that will keep him in white until 2021.
From Real Madrid's official website:
Research from Wake Forest University in 2011 showed that female soccer players are half as likely as men to flop and fake an injury during a match, and this video featuring Barcelona’s Barbara Latorre demonstrates just that.
Andres Iniesta is a consummate players’ player — his injury was felt around the planet as the loss of the Barcelona star is a loss to football as a whole. The knock he took against Valencia could’ve been a lot worse, but Iniesta is still expected to miss six to eight weeks.
At 32, serious damage to his lateral collateral ligament would’ve been devastating, and his presence was sorely missed in Barcelona’s loss to Manchester City in the Champions League.
A little over a week after Neymar put pen to paper on a new five-year deal with Barcelona, Real Madrid have announced that Gareth Bale has committed his future to the club by signing an extension running until June 30, 2022.