As FC Barcelona discovered last Wednesday, one does not simply mess with the Juventus defense. On Sunday, Juve hosted lowly Genoa at Juventus Stadium with the opportunity to stretch their lead at the top of Serie A to 11 points before Monday’s meeting between Roma and Pescara.
Any football fan knows what a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona means. It's a fixture so important that it’s been dubbed El Clasico by spectators in Spain and around the world. Controversy always surrounds this historic Spanish rivalry, especially when players decide to switch their allegiances.
Surprisingly, there have been a good number of players that have made the switch from Barcelona to Real Madrid and vice versa. Now, with El Clasico looming, we look back to see the 10 best players to play for both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
On Friday morning, the last Champions League draw of the season took place in Nyon, Switzerland to determine the semi-final matchups and gave us some very entertaining fixtures: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid and Monaco vs Juventus. As football fans, we are all one step closer to finding out which teams will play for Europe’s most lucrative trophy on June 3rd in Cardiff. Will the Champions League Final be played between:
Real Madrid - Monaco
Real Madrid - Juventus
Atletico Madrid - Monaco
Atletico Madrid - Juventus
Wanna hear a joke?
It’s the 75th minute in a Bundesliga match between Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Cologne with the score level at 2-2. Gladbach manager Dieter Hecking withdraws Jonas Hofmann and puts on Josip Drmic in the hopes of finding a match-winner.
Five minutes later, Lars Stindl puts Gladbach ahead and the bench goes ballistic. Hecking immediately switches his focus to defending their one-goal lead for the final 10 minutes. He sees Hofmann, the midfielder he just substituted, and begins barking instructions on staying compact.
It’s been more than a month since Barcelona manager Luis Enrique announced that he would not be renewing his contract (which expires after this season). At this moment, Barcelona sit three points behind Real Madrid in La Liga (Real also have a game in hand), they’ve been dumped from the Champions League by Juventus but they could give Enrique the perfect sendoff by winning the Copa del Rey title.
Sunday’s El Clasico falls on a very lovely Catalan holiday known as Sant Jordi’s day (Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia). This day, celebrated on April 23, is similar to Valentine’s Day except exceptionally better. Instead of overcomplicating matters and piling pressure on sweethearts to make it the best Valentine’s ever, Sant Jordi’s day simply calls for the mutual exchange of roses and books.
Article 49 of the official Champions League regulations stipulates how repeated yellow card cautions are dealt with and when lingering yellow cards are wiped. A suspension for yellow card accumulation is a threat from the group stage until the quarterfinals, and receiving a yellow-card suspension in the second leg of the quarters will also carry over into the semifinal first leg.
It’s come to light that the best opportunity Barcelona had to snatch a goal to begin their famous comeback against Juventus wasn’t squandered by Lionel Messi but by Luis Suarez at kick off.
Juventus defender Dani Alves was off the pitch, shaking hands with his old coaching staff (one coach playfully holding his hand long enough to incur a slap from Alves) while Luis Enrique beckoned the Brazilian to take a seat next to him.
Just as Borussia Dortmund was picking up steam, Monaco capped it immediately. Quick on the counterattack, Monaco threaded together a string of passes once again opening up Dortmund's defense. With fresh legs, right as Valère Germain stepped onto the pitch, he made an impact.
(Goal at 1:17)
Monaco makes history as the first team to score three goals in four consecutive matches in the Champions League.
Perhaps a small section of supporters within Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu are on to something. For the opening 75 minutes of Real’s second leg match against Bayern Munich, Cristiano Ronaldo, by his own standards and those of Real Madrid and all that jazz, cut a forlorn figure like only he can.