El Clasico is the biggest rivalry in sports, featuring the biggest stars in the biggest venues with some of the biggest prizes in soccer generally on the line. So who are the El Clasico top scorers, the players who shine when the lights are brightest and the pressure is on? We made a list, and it has some pretty impressive names on it.
MADRID - An Athletic Bilbao fan endured more than just heartbreak as his side were beaten 1-0 in last Saturday's rearranged Copa del Rey final by rivals Real Sociedad, with local media reporting he suffered a punctured lung after jumping off a traffic light pre-game.
SEVILLE, Spain — Real Sociedad beat local rivals Athletic Bilbao 1-0 in the rescheduled 2020 Copa del Rey final on Saturday to get their hands on a major trophy for the first time since 1987.
Captain Mikel Oyarzabal netted the winner by sending keeper Unai Simon the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute after strike partner Portu was felled in the area by Athletic defender Inigo Martinez.
Ousmane Dembélé is perennially late.
You can easily imagine him throwing open the door of his Mercedes S63 AMG coupé, crushed Mountain Dew Game Fuel cans spilling out with him, and sprinting into Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper at a breakneck speed muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" because this really happens all the time — to the point where the club fined him hundreds of thousands of dollars and wondered aloud if he had a video game disorder that forced him to stay up all night playing with his friends (others call this disorder “having fun.”)
Colchoneros, catalanes, merengues y nervionenses tendrán que dar el todo por el todo en la cancha si pretenden conquistar el ansiado título de la Liga Santander 2020-2021. Temporada tan particular como atípica. Estadios vacíos, pandemia incontrolable, crisis económica mundial y ahora el “Barçagate” percuten en demasía el ritmo de la competencia en España.
Ronald Koeman's Barcelona, third place in LaLiga on 50 points, travels south on Saturday to take on Sevilla, just two points behind them in fourth.
Sevilla FC, anyone? Julen Lopetegui’s side is the hottest commodity in Europe not named Manchester City following Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal matchup.
That’s now eight straight wins in all competitions for Sevilla (four in LaLiga and four in the Copa), results that’ve pushed the side to fourth in the league (just one point behind Barça) and the cusp of the Copa final.
Barcelona racked up 79 percent possession and 36 shots (20 on goal) in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey match against Granada, 29 more shots that the host. The end result was a 5-3 victory that was anything but easy, despite the final score and the wildly mismatched statistics.
Soccer is one of the very few sports that boasts competitions where small, local sides are able to face off against the best teams in the country. These matchups capture the imagination while providing a sense of hope and magic to a small group of supporters.
Domestic cups have long provided smaller clubs with the opportunity to prove their mettle by facing nationally recognized sides, and while major upsets are rare, just the slightest hope of an improbable win is enough to cause local pandemonium and stir significant interest among neutral supporters.
Something incredible happened last week: Alcoyano, a team from Spain's Segunda B (third division), eliminated Real Madrid from the Copa del Rey in extra time against all odds.
The hero of the night was José Juan, a 41-year-old goalkeeper who had a great night defending his net, stopping absolutely everything.