Spain

BASEL, Switzerland — Spain forward Gerard Moreno came off the bench to snatch a 1-1 draw away to Switzerland in the Nations League on Saturday after Sergio Ramos had missed two penalties.

Ramos, who also became the most capped European player of all time, had scored all of his previous 25 penalties but was thwarted when Yann Sommer guessed the right way and repelled his spot kick in the 58th minute to preserve his side's lead.

MADRID — Sergio Ramos is set to become the most capped European footballer of all time when Spain visit Switzerland in the Nations League on Saturday.

The Spain captain, who last year became his country's all-time appearance maker, is in line for a 177th match which will take him ahead of former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon as the continent's most capped player.

After a fire sale of players over the summer that was fiercely criticized by supporters and club greats, Valencia are braced for yet more departures, according to a report published by the LaLiga club with their accounts on Thursday.

The rise of Sergiño Dest has been meteoric. After all, it’s only been 459 days since he made his league debut with Ajax and 380 since he committed his international future to the USMNT. 

But this is a 20-year-old who forced his way into the starting 11 of a title-winning Ajax side before convincing Barcelona to part with $25 million. And early returns in Catalonia have been good — Dest was arguably Barça’s best player in El Clásico. 

MADRID — Real Madrid and Serbia forward Luka Jovic has agreed to pay a fine in exchange for a six-month jail sentence after flouting Serbian's COVID-19 restrictions, according to a court statement.

The court said the striker, 22, has been ordered to pay a fine of 3.5 million Serbian dinar, equivalent to around 30,000 euros or $35,000 USD, within a month in order to avoid prison.

Barcelona forward Ansu Fati will be sidelined for four months after undergoing knee surgery, the LaLiga club said on Monday.

Fati, who turned 18 last month, ruptured the internal meniscus in his left knee during Barcelona's 5-2 home win over Real Betis on Saturday.

"Ansu Fati has been operated on successfully by Dr. Ramon Cugat... under the supervision of the Club's medical staff," Barcelona said in a statement. "The player will be out for approximately four months."

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his side could not hide behind the referee's decisions or their injury and illness woes after they stumbled to a 4-1 defeat at Valencia on Sunday.

Real conceded three penalties for the first time in their history, all of which were scored by Valencia's Carlos Soler, while Raphael Varane also scored an own goal, after Karim Benzema had given the champions the lead.

Barcelona went into the locker room tied with Real Betis after Antoine Griezmann had a penalty saved. Lionel Messi came on to start the second half and completely turned the game around, starting with a masterful dummy run to help Griezmann atone for his missed PK.

Messi scored two goals to help Barcelona eventually beat Real Betis 5-2 on Saturday, including his first goal that wasn’t from the penalty spot this season (though his first was another penalty kick). His fake to set up Griezmann’s goal was the moment that changed the match.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said Eden Hazard's positive COVID-19 test had come at a difficult time for the player just as he was returning to full fitness, but added the Belgian was in high spirits.

Hazard has only played three times this season after missing the start of the campaign with a muscle problem, after his first campaign with Madrid was blighted by two serious ankle injuries.