La Liga

Barcelona knocked Real Sociedad off the top of LaLiga by defeating them 2-1 Wednesday at the Camp Nou. If you’re a Blaugrana supporter, you’ll only want to see the opening 45 minutes, when Willian José’s opener against the run of play was sumptuously canceled out by Jordi Alba before Frenkie de Jong gave Barça a deserved lead at halftime. 

However, as beIN SPORTS commentator Ray Hudson said, it was “a magisterial first half followed by an absolute circus.”

Due to the scheduling havoc wreaked by COVID-19 and the resulting extension of the 2019-20 season, the summer transfer was extended until Oct. 5, but when does the January transfer window 2021 open? It’s been a wild ride, but some semblance of normality has returned to European football with the January transfer window set to open on Saturday, Jan. 2 and close on Monday, Feb. 1.

Has the January transfer window changed?

Barcelona stopped the rot — for the time being — by defeating 18th-place Levante 1-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday to climb to eighth in LaLiga. The home side put 13 shots on target but the only one that counted was Lionel Messi’s angled finish in the 76th-minute following Frenkie de Jong’s well-weighted ball.

It’d been a terrible week for Barcelona as last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Cádiz was followed by a 3-0 beatdown from Juventus in the Champions League, a result which condemned Barcelona to facing one of Bayern, Dortmund, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea or PSG in the Round of 16. 

On Wednesday, Jan Oblak’s mere presence seemed to terrify RB Salzburg players who even thought about taking a shot on goal. The Slovenian keeper recorded a clean sheet as Atlético Madrid won to ensure a place in the Champions League knockout rounds. On Saturday, a Jan Oblak own goal vs Real Madrid showed even the best keepers in the world get unlucky sometimes.

Barcelona's interim president Carlos Tusquets feels the club should have cashed-in on Lionel Messi during the summer transfer window.

Messi was heavily linked with a move to Manchester City and sent a recorded delivery (Burofax) letter stating his intention to leave. He later said the decision was due to being disillusioned with the direction the now former board had taken the club. Ex-Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned in October rather than face a vote of no confidence, with Tusquets taking temporary charge until January's elections.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane defended forward Eden Hazard's mental fortitude after the forward picked up another injury, ruling him out of Tuesday's Champions League meeting with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Belgium national team doctor Kris van Crombrugge had suggested Hazard's injury issues since joining Real were down to mental stress, however Zidane refuted those claims.

Barcelona responded to last weekend’s defeat to Atlético Madrid by comfortably beating Osasuna 4-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Martin Braithwaite opened the scoring, Antoine Griezmann hit an incredible volley before setting up Philippe Coutinho for Barça’s third and Lionel Messi got the fourth with a sweet sweep of his left foot. 

Before the match, the life of Diego Maradona — who spent two seasons with Barcelona between 1982 and 1984 — was honored with his No. 10 shirt placed in the middle of the pitch. 

Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann has dismissed talk of a rift with team mate Lionel Messi and said he had nothing to do with recent comments about the Argentine forward from his former agent and his uncle.

Earlier this month, Griezmann's former agent Eric Olhats said Messi's "reign of terror" had made life difficult for Griezmann, while the French forward's uncle said it was not easy to play in the same club as the six-time Ballon d'Or winner.

You know it’s serious when Antoine Griezmann shows up for his own special segment on Movistar+. Most infamously, Griezmann appeared on the network back in the summer of 2018 to announce — in the face of interest from Barcelona — that he was staying at Atlético Madrid with the resounding cry of “My fans, my team, my HOME.”

One summer later Griezmann was on his way to the Camp Nou after Barça met his $142 million release clause, but Monday’s appearance on Movistar+ has to do with what’s transpired since that fractious move.