Europe

During Sunday’s Segunda División B match between the Barcelona B squad and SD Ejea, 20-year-old Barca right back Moussa Wagué was sent off for clashing with an Ejea supporter while attempting to take a throw-in. 

The match was played at the tight confines of Ejea’s 2,900-capacity Nuevo Estadio Municipal, and after Wagué went to collect the ball for a throw, a supporter tossed it away from him, resulting in the physical altercation.

A lot of people don’t like Neymar. 

I get that — he went overboard with the theatrics at last summer’s World Cup.

But what Strasbourg's Anthony Gonçalves said after yet another Neymar injury crosses the line more than any Neymar dive. It’s dangerous territory, something that reflects a societal issue as well.

With the latest reports saying there’s no hope that Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson will be found alive after their Piper Malibu light aircraft went missing Monday night over the Channel Islands, the footballing world is beginning to pay its respects to the 28-year-old Argentine. 

The U.S. men’s national team is in Phoenix this week getting ready for Sunday’s friendly against Panama. That match will be followed with another exhibition against Costa Rica the following Saturday to wrap up Gregg Berhalter’s first January camp as USMNT coach.

Meanwhile, young Americans in Europe are thriving — showing just how impotent the annual January camp for domestic players really is. 

It’d been a long time since any nation treated the USWNT like Spain did in the opening 45 of today’s contest in Alicante. 2019 will mark La Roja’s second-ever World Cup appearance (the first came in 2015), but the growing European side controlled 58 percent of possession and out-passed the defending world champions 274-195 in the first half. Not bad for a first-ever meeting with the powerhouse that is the USWNT.  

Quick, who’s the most expensive transfer of the January window so far? You should know this — it’s the $75 million Chelsea paid Borussia Dortmund for Christian Pulisic. Now what about the second-most expensive? Any ideas? It’s the $41 million AC Milan paid Flamengo for 21-year-old Brazilian Lucas Paquetá.

Every child dreams of becoming the next Lionel Messi, and I don’t think that should be discouraged. However, it might not be a bad bit of parenting to tell your children that it’s OK to aim for the next Maxwell, Alexander Hleb, Aleix Vidal, Thomas Vermaelen, Paulinho or Kevin-Prince Boateng as well — that’s probably the surest way of representing the Blaugrana as a professional.

These are the somewhat old, somewhat weird transfer dealings of the five-time European champions, and in a strange way, they make perfect sense.