LaLiga

S*** really hit the fan during Barcelona and Espanyol’s Copa del Rey match, and Luis Suarez talking trash played no small part.

It has been roughly 24 hours since the final whistle blew and ever news outlet with at least a passing focus on football is printing various quotes from the post-game interviews, dissecting the official match report, and lip reading what the stars said during the match.

Social media is filled with salty Barcelona fans, gloating Barcelona fans, and people dissing Espanyol (sorry Espanyol, but your fan base is simply dwarfed by Barcelona’s).

Although, during the last six weeks of 2015, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said he supported the permanence of Rafa Benitez as coach his club, just four days into 2016 Perez changed his mind. Now Zinedine Zidane is the new man in charge of Los Blancos.

So, The18 presents 18 facts about the life of Zidane, a former excellent player who is beginning his coaching career in a difficult moment for Real Madrid. If he fails will be Benitez and Perez’s fault, but any positive result would be his individual achievement.

After the rumours spread throughout the past weeks, the call has been made: Rafa Benítez is reportedly no longer Real Madrid’s coach after a draw in Mestalla.

It is a near-universal truth that soccer fans want to be Messi, to live Messi's life and do what Messi does. This holds true, apparently, for other footballers as well. Just ask Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos.

Ramos tweeted out his New Year's collage earlier today, which is a thing a lot of people do. What most people don't do, however, is include in their collages pictures of other people's significant others and children.

Lionel Messi made his 500th appearance for FC Barcelona on Wednesday and, naturally, was on the scoresheet. Messi was named in the starting XI, as well as captain for the night, despite having just passed a kidney stone and traveling between Japan, Argentina, Dubai and Barcelona over the past 10 days. 

No matter. Messi put in another Man of the Match performance during Barca's 4-0 La Liga victory over Real Betis.

Sergi Guardiola is 24 years old, which is certainly old enough to know that nowadays potential employers always check out your social media accounts for bad stuff.

This is why every college and career counselor ever tells you to make sure your social media accounts are either squeaky clean or uber-private before you apply for jobs, to make sure your reputation isn't damaged in the eyes of potential employers.

Guardiola, it appears, has never talked to a career counselor (we don't even know if European footballers have that sort of thing), because he went from this:

Adalberto Peñaranda made history in La Liga last Saturday by becoming the youngest foreign player (18 years and 195 days) to score a brace.

The Venezuelan forward, who made his debut in La Liga on November 22 against Athletic Club de Bilbao, scored both goals for Granada CF in a win at Levante, 2-1. The match was held at the Ciudad de Valencia stadium.

The long-standing transfer saga concerning Carlos Vela and MLS reared its head again on Monday. While it has long been reported that Vela is open to a move to the United States, his final destination has been the subject of much speculation. 

Due to Major League Soccer’s player discovery process, the Colorado Rapids have the first right to Vela.