Álvaro Cervera arrived in Cádiz after a three-year spell with Tenerife. It was mid-April when he took the job as manager, the season nearly over. Cervera was able to guide Cádiz CF to a fourth-place finish and promotion to the Spanish second division after six arduous years in the third tier. Four years on, El Submarino Amarillo is on the brink of a return to the promised land of LaLiga.
Premier League CEO Richard Masters defended players' and clubs' collective decision to support the Black Lives Matter movement on Tuesday, describing it as a moral cause and not a political one.
When the league restarted this month after a three-month stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic, all players had "Black Lives Matter" on their shirts instead of their names in the opening round of games and they have continued to take a knee before kick-off in support of BLM.
FC Augsburg has wasted no time in adding to its squad this summer. The Bavarian side has completed some remarkable business by adding midfielders Daniel Caligiuri from Schalke and Tobias Strobl from Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz from Union Berlin. All three were signed on free transfers as their contracts at their previous clubs were due to expire at the end of June.
Tobias Strobl
Daniel Caligiuri
Rafał Gikiewicz
Luton Town arrived at Swansea City's Liberty Stadium on Saturday embroiled in a relegation battle, but the team became involved in a different kind of fight on the pitch. Luton striker James Collins put the Championship strugglers ahead 1-0 with a 72nd minute header, but the real action kicked off shortly after, following a series of increasingly harsh tackles:
This... well, it escalates. Put it that way. pic.twitter.com/NVuunTqYq9
An important game in the LaLiga relegation picture beckons as 18th-place Mallorca takes on 17th-place Celta Vigo on Tuesday.
Mallorca is still winless since the restart, having faced a tough stretch on the schedule which pitted the side against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The Balearic Islands-based team, co-owned by retired basketball player Steve Nash, has taken just one point since play resumed in a draw against fellow basement dwellers Leganes.
I remember when, back in the fall of 2017, Andrés Iniesta put pen to paper on a lifetime contract with Barcelona. A part of me immediately understood that it was, in theory, merely symbolic (he would move to Vissel Kobe come summer), but there was a part of me that really wanted to learn that the contract was actually practical: Why not keep Iniesta in Barcelona’s midfield until the age of 76?
Barcelona coach Quique Setién has said he does not always see eye-to-eye with his squad as their LaLiga title bid threatens to unravel following Saturday's 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo.
Second-placed Barça trail Real Madrid by two points with six games to go and face a grueling match at home to third-placed Atlético Madrid on Tuesday which they need to win to stay in close contention in the title race.
"It's true that you often have arguments with players as you do in everyday life and that's nothing new," Setién told a virtual news conference on Monday.
An initiative aimed at increasing the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) coaches in English football has been launched by the Premier League, Football League and PFA.
The move followed comments from high-profile players such as Manchester City's Raheem Sterling who said few black players make the progression into full-time coaching roles.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema produced an audacious back-heeled assist for Casemiro to score as they beat Espanyol 1-0 away on Sunday to capitalize on Barcelona's slip-up a day earlier and move two points clear at the top of LaLiga.
Brazilian midfielder Casemiro slid to the ground to guide the ball home on the stroke of halftime after being played in by a stroke of genius from Benzema, who dragged the ball through the legs of the defender marking him to find his team mate.
Substitute Luis Muriel rifled in two long-range goals as irrepressible Atalanta beat Udinese 3-2 away on Sunday for their third straight win since restarting the Serie A campaign.
The league's most prolific team took their tally to 80 goals in 28 games, including 10 in three matches since the resumption, as they stayed fourth and on course for a Champions League spot.