Spain

You could say it’s been an abnormal season for Cristiano Ronaldo. We’ve all gotten used to the Portuguese star playing almost every single competitive match and reaching outrageous totals of 50 or 60 goals a campaign. 

This season, however, Ronaldo has scored 37 goals across all competitions, and he’s appeared in 43 of Real Madrid’s 57 official games — a total of only 75%. This is a significant change from last season when he scored a total of 51 goals and played 48 of Real’s 52 matches — a total of 92%. 

La Liga took another step towards the finish line with Barcelona swatting aside Las Palmas, 4-1, and Real Madrid dispatching fourth-placed Sevilla 4-1 at the Bernabeu on Sunday.

The result saw Barcelona stay atop the La Liga table on head-to-head record, but Real Madrid maintain their vital game in hand. Barcelona’s final match is on Sunday against Eibar, while all eyes will be on Real Madrid in Galicia on Wednesday when they travel to play Celta Vigo before finishing away to Malaga.

You might think paying €45 million for a 16-year-old without a first-team appearance to his name is excessive. You might be correct. In the case of Vinicius Jr., though, you just might be incorrect.

Real Madrid have reportedly had a €45 million bid accepted by Vinicius's club, Flamengo, although the move cannot be finalized until Vinicius turns 18, in July of next year.

Everyone wants to swap jerseys with Lionel Messi, but who does Lionel Messi want to swap shirts with? Let's find out:

That man in the picture above is not Lionel Messi. He is an imposter. We wouldn't blame you for thinking he's real, though. A lot of people thought he was real, so many that the police had to get involved.

Here are three very alarming sentences from the BBC:

So many people in the city of Hamaden wanted a picture with Reza Parastesh that police took him to the station and impounded his car to stop the chaos.

Lionel Messi has scored 51 goals in 49 games this season for Barcelona. So, it's no wonder that club executives are in a hurry to get negotiations over with and to get Messi's contract finalized.

It appears today that the club and Messi's agents may be close to a deal. Only a day after we reported that Messi's camp rejected Barcelona's initial offer, Barcelona VP Jordi Mestre said "it won't be long" before Lionel Messi signs a new contract with FC Barcelona.

Carlos Vela is quietly putting together a good season for Real Sociedad. The Mexican international's latest act was bringing Sociedad level with Sevilla Friday.

Here's that Carlos Vela equalizer. #ElTriEng pic.twitter.com/Wl76aCSCFs

— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) May 5, 2017

According to Diario AS, Lionel Messi's camp has rejected Barcelona''s initial offer of a contract extention. Messi's contract runs through June 2018.

Despite the initial rebuff, no one expects Messi to play anywhere besides Barcelona. It's understood he'll sign an extension eventually, but certainly the powers that be at Barcelona will be much happier should that happen sooner rather than later.

The offer was reported to be in the neigborhood of 30-30 million Euros per year.