La Liga

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.

Memo Ochoa probably just needs a new team at this point.

The Mexican goalkeeper has fallen far from the lofty heights he achieved as one of the breakout players of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, having appeared only once so far for Spanish club Malaga so far this season.

That appearance came earlier this week in the Copa del Rey against Mirandes. Malaga lost, 2-1, which means something drastic is probably going to have to happen for Ochoa to see the field.

Valencia has a new manager, not that there’s much surprise in that. Since Rafa Benitez left the club as La Liga champions in 2004, 12 coaches have come and gone in the intervening 11 years, delivering a solitary piece of silverware (the 2008 Copa del Rey) between them.

They’re rivals on and off the pitch, but the latest edition of El Clasico has provoked controversy that pushed the tension between Barcelona and Real Madrid to a boiling point.

Barcelona are currently pursuing a case against Manolo Sanchís and Poli Rincon through the Anti-Violence Commission over comments the ex-Real players made about Isco’s horror tackle on Neymar in El Clasico. The Spain starlet was given a straight red card, Real Madrid lost El Clasico, and that should have been the end of it.