Real Madrid

Heading into Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg between Real Madrid and Manchester City, the narrative centered around the contrasting styles of managers Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola. In essence, how would the laissez-faire approach of Zidane, which yielded back-to-back-to-back titles in this competition between 2016 and 2018, fare against the meticulous neuroticism of Guardiola, which hasn’t earned the Spaniard Old Big Ears since 2011. 

LaLiga has confirmed the date and time for the 2020 El Clasico, and we can now begin to look forward to one of the most meaningful clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona in years. On Sunday, March 1 at 3:00 p.m. ET, the two eternal rivals will take to the pitch at El Bernabéu in Madrid with the league title on the line. 

Real Madrid opened up a six-point lead at the top of LaLiga ahead of Barcelona’s late match on Sunday following a 4-1 away victory over 12th-place Osasuna. It was Unai García who gave Osasuna an early lead before Isco and Sergio Ramos completed the turnaround for the Spanish leaders with Lucas Vázquez and Luka Jović adding late insurance goals.

Real Madrid and the Copa Del Rey simply don’t mesh well. On Thursday, the Spanish giants were knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals at the hands of Real Sociedad. The loss also ended a 21-game unbeaten streak for Los Blancos.

In the most ironic fashion, Real Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard opened up the scoring for Sociedad midway through the first half. Alexander Isak thought he doubled the lead in the 49th minute but his goal was disallowed. No worries though as Isak would get his goal just five minutes later, and it was a fabulous volley at that.

Cristiano Ronaldo finalized his transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus back in the summer of 2018, bringing an end to his nine-year spell at the Bernabeu. Juve paid Real $117.25 million for the 34-year-old’s services, and Ronaldo signed a four-year deal worth around $35 million annually.