Barcelona

Lionel Messi has extended his Barcelona contract through the 2020-21 season, putting an end to growing speculation that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was looking to negotiate with other clubs come January. Messi has now committed himself to the Camp Nou until the age of 34.

According to a statement from the club, the buyout clause is set at €700 million ($835m). By the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, Messi will have spent 17 years with the first team.

Barcelona’s assured display in a 0-0 draw with Juventus on Wednesday guaranteed the Blaugrana top spot in Champions League Group D, and with Lionel Messi spending the better part of the opening hour on the bench in Turin, the usual Barca suspects came to the fore to help their side navigate this tricky tie. 

Lionel Messi and company look to be running away with La Liga. Heading into the Barcelona vs Valencia match on Sunday at the Mestalla, the Catalan club is unbeaten with 11 wins and one draw. Barcelona is sitting on 34 points, 10 ahead of both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, the only other two clubs to have won La Liga in the past dozen years.

Barcelona-Juventus ended 0-0 and Messi only made a substitute appearance, but there was plenty of incredible soccer to go around. For example, in the first half Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets found himself being pressed by Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic. Did Busquets safely pass the ball back to a center half or his goalkeeper? No. Did he panic and hoof the pall up the pitch in the general direction of Luis Suarez? No.

Instead, Busquets calmly (and slowly) gave Pjanic the ol' Zidane roulette before (still slowly) skipping away and finding Ivan Rakitic.

El Clasico may not mean much this year, with Barcelona having opened up a 10-point lead on Real Madrid atop La Liga.

Or El Clasico may mean much more than usual. If Real Madrid win and get a few bad Barcelona results they could be right back in this thing.

There was one clear winner from the Madrid derby: Barcelona. The Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid match ended in a 0-0 draw, leaving both clubs 10 points behind Barcelona, which itself won 3-0 over Leganes in Madrid on Saturday. 

German media is speculating that Aubameyang was suspended by Borussia Dortmund for a clandestine trip to Barcelona. However, Aubameyang himself claims his suspension is due to turning up late for training.

Punctuality is extremely important for some people. Recently, a Japanese rail company apologized after a train left 20 seconds early.