Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Real Madrid training on Wednesday with his fitness still a major concern for Real supporters. Ronaldo injured his knee during Portugal’s Euro 2016 final victory over France, and there’s still no firm timetable for his return.
The injury that forced Cristiano Ronaldo to withdraw from the Euro 2016 final may cause him to miss Real Madrids opening La Liga match against Real Sociedad. With the game coming on the 21st of August, Ronaldo is a major doubt for Los Blancos.
Ronaldo has been given an extended break following his exertions in France, but the forward would’ve been unable to train with Real even if he’d wanted to. Ronaldo sprained his left knee in the final against France, and there’s no confirmed date for his return.
Barcelona have been linked with just about every half-decent striker in Europe this transfer window: Nolito, Mario Mandzukic, Carlos Bacca, Mario Gomez, Kevin Gameiro and Luciano Vietto have all been run through the rumor mill. They've also looked to the other side of the pond, being linked with Andre-Pierre Gignac, Gabriel Jesus and Luan Vieira.
It’s not often that you see a player absolutely embarrass the Barcelona defense. When that player is wearing a Leicester City jersey doubly so. Ahmed Musa arrived in Leicester on July 8th for a club record £16.6 million.
While experts have been dissecting where the Nigerian winger/forward fits in the Leicester City setup, Musa has let his ridiculously quick feet do the talking.
Musa scored two goals in Leicester’s 4-2 loss to Barcelona, and it was his first strike for the club that really got people talking.
The first half of the Leicester City vs. Barcelona ICC match was a trial by fire for Leicester. For a side looking to make an impression in their first Champions League campaign this season, the ICC has been a wonderful exercise in witnessing the excellence of the competition. It’s only preseason, but Barcelona showed the kind of quality that Europe’s top club competition offers.
Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were particularly disrespectful to the English champions — Suarez registering a goal and an assist while Messi contributed two assists in the first half.
It’s the question that has plagued Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane throughout his time in charge of the club: What’s the deal with James Rodriguez? Does the French coach even rate the Colombian playmaker?
Following a season in which James only appeared in 26 La Liga games for the club, his lowest total since arriving in 2014, would James be shown the door this summer? The player has continued to excel for Colombia on international duty, where he's the focal point of the attack, but he's taken a back seat in Zidane's preferred 4-3-3 formation at Real.
105,826 crowded into Michigan Stadium, better known as “The Big House”, to get a glimpse of Real Madrid and Chelsea stars like Marcelo, Oscar, Eden Hazard and James Rodriguez. At the end of they day, they were all talking about Real Madrid’s 22-year-old Dominican forward Mariano Diaz Mejia, simply known as Mariano.
Marcelo put in a man of the match performance, and Eden Hazard scored two wonderful late goals for the Blues, but Mariano’s goal was absolutely world-class.
Lionel Messi has had enough of sitting on his yacht in Ibiza presumably replaying his Copa America penalty miss over and over. Messi wasn’t due to join his Barcelona teammates in preseason training until August 1st, but the former Argentine international has forgone his extended break in favor of returning to training.
Messi is back https://t.co/mTyGZGGOz5
This La Liga season promises to be a hugely entertaining one, as the Spanish first division boasts three of the best club teams in the world, and also possibly the smelliest. CD Leganes, recently promoted to the first division for the first time ever, will introduce themselves to the world's top teams with a kit that features a scratch 'n sniff badge. Really.
We promise we are not making this up. They made a video about it and everything.
By January of 2004, Barcelona was a club in deep crisis. Since the 1999-00 season, they’d finished further and further down the LaLiga table — second in 2000, fourth in 2001, fourth in 2002 and a disastrous sixth in 2003.
The 2003-04 season looked to be even worse yet. Club president Joan Gaspart had been forced to resign because of the decline, and his young replacement, Joan Laporta, had begun his presidency in farce after promising Barcelona supporters David Beckham only to see him land at Real Madrid.