La Liga

Barcelona winger Francisco Trincão scored his first goal for the club to snatch a 3-2 win away to Real Betis on Sunday as Ronald Koeman's side pulled off a second comeback victory in the space of four days.

Barça coach Ronald Koeman took the surprising decision to leave Lionel Messi and the in-form Frenkie de Jong out of his starting lineup and saw his side fall behind to a Borja Iglesias strike on the counterattack in the 38th minute.

According to Transfermarkt, 11,148 transfers were officially made between January 1 and February 1, with the transfer fees totalling a little over $600 million.

While significantly less than the 18,488 transfers worth $1.6 billion that occurred last January, it's still a lot to take in.

But we've made it easy for you.

Here's The18's five-minute guide to the most important transfers of this year's winter window:

Winter Transfers 2021

Five Most Expensive

1. Sébastien Haller (West Ham → Ajax)

Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann fired Barcelona to a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga on Sunday, avenging their recent defeat to the Basque side in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Messi curled in a free kick after 20 minutes for his 650th Barça goal on the day the club pledged to sue Spanish newspaper El Mundo for publishing the full details of the Argentine's contract.

Atlético Madrid's Luis Suárez fired in two goals as they thrashed Cádiz 4-2 away in an action-packed game on Sunday to march 10 points clear at the top of LaLiga.

Suarez gave Atléti the lead in the 28th minute with a curling free kick which was cancelled out by Cádiz forward Álvaro Negredo seven minutes later before Saúl Ñíguez restored the visitors' advantage moments before the break.

Just when you thought Barcelona had turned the corner with four straight league wins and a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, here comes that nasty debt of $1.42 billion and the ugly realization that the greatest footballer of all-time is headed out the back door again! (Along with another Luis Suárez brace for Atlético.) 

It’s a decision every footballer has pondered at some point: When is it worth committing a red-card offense to prevent a goal from being scored? It’s hard not to think the Éder Militão red card in a 2-1 defeat to Levante on Saturday was the wrong choice.

Sevilla advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday after defeating Valencia 3-0 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Luuk de Jong opened the scoring in the 20th minute and then made it 2-0 in the 33rd after putting the finishing touch on a spectacular team goal.

The move involved 37 passes and 11 Sevilla players, making it this season’s golden standard in the land of tiki-taka.  

Madridistas, Culés, Colchoneros, Sevillistas and anyone that enjoys seeing the beautiful game played beautifully in one of the world’s most awe-inspiring countries rejoice: ESPN is reportedly on the verge of acquiring the U.S. rights to LaLiga! 

Atlético Madrid overcame a spectacular opening goal from Valencia’s Uroš Račić to win 3-1 at the Wanda on Sunday, putting Diego Simeone’s side seven points clear of second-place Real Madrid with a match still in hand.

After Račić’s incredible opener, João Félix brought Atlético level before halftime and then Luis Suárez and Ángel Correa did the business in the second 45 to secure all three points ahead of next weekend’s trip to Cádiz.