After watching Real Madrid defeat Osasuna earlier in the day, Barcelona knew it needed to escape the Benito Villamarín Stadium in Seville with a win to stay within three points of Real at the top of LaLiga. But it’s never easy against Real Betis, and Barcelona’s own fragility away from home was clear for all to see last Thursday when they were dumped out of the Copa del Rey in Bilbao.
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.
While much of the soccer-loving world was fixed to ESPN+ to watch Real Madrid lose dramatically to Real Sociedad or Barcelona struggle against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Thursday, there was a bigger match going on in Spain not shown on international TV.
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.
Lionel Messi is angry. That’s not conjecture, that’s not rumor, that’s not juice being peddled by MARCA to aid Real Madrid’s LaLiga quest. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner is irate.
Barcelona stayed three points behind Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga following a 2-1 victory over Levante on Sunday with both goals coming from 17-year-old phenom Ansu Fati. Fati became the youngest-ever to register a brace in Spain’s top division, and it’s only fitting that Lionel Messi registered the assist on both goals.
The match’s first goal arrived in the 30th minute after Messi took possession inside his own half before playing an immaculate ball that dissected five Levante defenders and sent Fati on his way.
The VAR era has produced some stunning moments, but here are two of the strangest minutes we’ve seen yet. The scene is Estadio Fernando Torres in Madrid — yes, the stadium’s named after the former Liverpool striker — where Fuenlabrada is hosting Girona in Spanish Segunda División play.
The sporting world lost one of its most important figures on Sunday as Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others passed after a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
The tragedy is one where almost everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they received the text, saw the tweet or read the news.
Everything seemed to go Barcelona’s way. It had more possession, more shots and more help from officials. But Valencia still found a way to win 2-0, handing Quique Setién his first loss as Barça coach on Saturday.
The Quique Setién era at Barcelona began with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Granada at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening. The game’s lone goal was a beautifully constructed move that finished with Arturo Vidal backheeling the ball into the path of Lionel Messi for his 14th goal of the LaLiga season.