The hype surrounding 20-year-old French winger Ousmane Dembele was largely quelled this season after a pair of injuries kept the kid sidelined for 27 games between September and February, but it was only a matter of fitness until the train’s wheels started rolling again.
A remarkably contentious — almost hilariously so — El Clasico ended 2-2, a result that won’t particularly bother Real Madrid but one that sees Barcelona extend this season’s unbeaten league run to 35 matches. If you’re a Real Madrid fan, Barcelona got away with murder; if you’re a Barcelona fan, Real Madrid got special treatment. So just another El Clasico, really.
It’s never a proper El Clasico without a bit of blood and thunder (coupled with some extremely cringeworthy theatrics), but a brilliant opening 15 minutes has been followed by some pretty pathetic (but extremely entertaining) bickering from both sides, culminating in a straight red card to Sergi Roberto just before the halftime whistle.
Four years is a good amount of time for a person to change.
So I decided to take a look at players who have played in a lot of World Cups and see their evolution every time they played in the world’s greatest competition. I picked welll known players in football (and DaMarcus Beasley for the USMNT fans) and what I learned was this:
Real Madrid and Barcelona play each other in El Clasico on Sunday, May 6th at 2:45 PM Eastern time. The first time these two giants met during the 2017/18 LaLiga season, the match kicked off at 4 AM Eastern time. We strongly believe that this will be the best way to spend your afternoon.
While there’s still work to be done to secure its historic “Invincibles” status (most notably Sunday’s El Clasico at the Camp Nou), Barcelona took time off to celebrate its league and cup double on Monday with an open-top bus victory parade through the heart of the city.