Spain

There will never be another series of transfers like FC Barcelona’s 2013 and 2014 plundering of some of the best soccer players the world has seen in quite some time. During that Summer of endless spending, Barcelona came away with Luis Suarez, Neymar, Ivan Rakitic, goalies Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo and important role players Jeremy Mathieu and Rafinha.

Barcelona had its eyes set on deep domestic and continental runs. While they were mindful of the future, more important was the immediate success of the team. It certainly paid off.

It hasn’t taken much, but Jonathan dos Santos has matched his career best for goals in a season. In 66 previous La Liga appearances, Dos Santos had managed a total of two goals, both during his debut season with Villarreal in 2014-15, but he’s already scored twice in only 14 appearances for the Yellow Submarine this campaign.

Before Atletico Madrid’s last Champions League group stage fixture against Bayern Munich, Diego Simeone made some interesting comments saying that he will one day coach Inter Milan. A fire that was started a week earlier by his son Giovanni Simeone (striker for Genoa) saying that his dad will indeed one day be the manager for the Nerazzurri side. 

Barcelona's kits for next season have reportedly leaked. They are bad, if they are in fact next year's kits. We're not 100 percent positive if these are the kits. There's a lot of evidence pointing to "yes", so for the rest of the article we're going to treat the rumors as true, even though they may not be, so take that into consideration as you read.

 Replica da possível camisa do Barça para temporada 2017/18. pic.twitter.com/kJ3XEDQt9E

Football has long been obstinate in its opposition to video technology, going so far as to appoint fifth and sixth officials to stand behind the goals doing absolutely nothing as opposed to implementing any kind of instant replay system. 

Goal-line technology has, in recent times, been successfully used at the highest levels of the game, but this only came about because of legitimate instances of robbery at the pinnacle of the sport.

Atletico Madrid, in their second game since manager Diego Simeone confirmed he intends to leave them for Inter Milan someday, played like a team whose manager had recently said he intends to leave them someday. Villarreal had much less trouble scoring than would be expected against one of the world's best defensive teams.

Cristiano Ronaldo has collected his fourth Ballon d’Or as the top player on the planet, according to France Football magazine, for 2016. Having led Real Madrid and Portugal to victory in the Champions League and at Euro 2016 respectively, Ronaldo now trails Lionel Messi, who has five in his collection, by only a single award.

Cristiano Ronaldo has just revealed his 2015 earnings in response to tax-fraud allegations. And, while we knew his net worth made him the richest footballer in the world, we didn't know just how much money Ronaldo makes. It's shocking, to say the least.

In 2015, Cristiano’s earnings (after tax) made him the highest paid athlete in the world. So, exactly how much did Cristiano Ronaldo earn in 2015?

FC Barcelona have confirmed through their official Twitter page that they’ve invited Brazilian club Chapecoense to play in the 2017 Gamper Trophy, an annual preseason friendly match held in August at Barca’s Camp Nou stadium.

According to the club, the match “aims to help with the reconstruction of [Chapecoense]” following the tragic airplane accident which claimed the lives of 71 people, including 19 of Chapecoense’s players.