LaLiga

Spanish and Barcelona phenom Pedri can’t legally buy an alcoholic drink in the United States, but he can claim the title of having the highest release clause in all of soccer and Barcelona history.

Barcelona will be keeping Pedri until June 2026 after extending the Spaniard’s contract and setting his release clause at a whopping 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion). This ties him with Karim Benzema for the highest release clause in soccer.

The 30 nominees for the women and men’s Ballon d’Or were released on Friday with several big surprises. The Chelsea Ballon d’Or representation was at an all-time high with ten players (five women, five men) nominated for the award. 

PARIS — France striker Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday fell short of saying he would leave Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The 22-year-old told the Ligue 1 club he wanted to join Real Madrid during the close season, only for PSG to turn down the Spanish club's offers.

MADRID— Former Barcelona striker Luis Suarez heaped more misery on his old club as Atletico Madrid claimed a 2-0 LaLiga victory over the Catalans at the Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday.

First-half strikes from Thomas Lemar and Suarez were enough for the champions to secure all three points and heap pressure on the visitors' beleaguered boss Ronald Koeman.

Thomas Lemar gives Atletico the lead over Barcelona pic.twitter.com/VlUP4kdfsA

You can’t hear the name Radamel Falcao without allowing your mind to drift back to the heady days of 2012, when El Tigre was banging in the goals for Atlético Madrid (70 in 91 appearances) and Colombia (nine goals in 2014 World Cup qualifying) and finishing fifth in Ballon d’Or voting.

Of course what followed was that strange $70.4 million transfer to newly promoted Monaco, a devastating ACL injury and a crushing absence at the 2014 World Cup. 

BARCELONA - Goals from Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong and the returning Ansu Fati helped Barcelona claim a much-needed 3-0 home victory over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.

The victory, Barça's first in their last four games in all competitions, moved the Catalans up to fifth in the table with 12 points from six games, five behind league leaders Real Madrid, who have played one more.

The 18-year-old Fati, who came on as an 81st-minute substitute before scoring Barça's third goal, was making his first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury last November.

Barcelona was always going to struggle after Lionel Messi left. The club was already on a downward trajectory before the legendary No. 10 skipped town, but even ardent Barça fans have to admit this is even worse than they expected. The club reached a new nadir this season when Sergio Busquets kicked a ball at an opponent to stop a scoring chance in the final moments of a 0-0 draw with Cádiz on Thursday.

Real Madrid hosted Mallorca on Wednesday night, and it was a special (and extremely rare) occasion for American fans of LaLiga as USMNT striker Matthew Hoppe earned a start at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Mauricio Pochettino is in the headlines after he made the bold decision to substitute Lionel Messi during Paris Saint-Germain’s tight 2-1 victory against Lyon on Sunday. How many times has Messi been subbed you might ask? Almost never.

With the scored tied at 1-1 Pochettino felt that taking Messi out of the game would help his side. 

Messi after being subbed off pic.twitter.com/AxIE7EmhC4