Spain

Despite his age, Ansu Fati doesn’t need any time to adjust to the highest level.

A 16-year-old forward, Fati became Barcelona’s youngest-ever goal scorer a couple weeks ago. He received his first start at home against Valencia on Saturday and took no time proving he belongs on one of the best teams in the world.

Fati scored in the second minute and added an assist five minutes later in a mindboggling opening to his first career start.

In time, the coaching tree that expands out from Pep Guardiola is going to be massive. Some will fail (like if Mikel Arteta had taken the job at Newcastle), but the Spanish tactician’s otherworldly training methods will almost certainly be absorbed and even expanded upon by some future coaching Übermensch that worked under Guardiola for a long period.

It’s been a while since Lionel Messi’s last in-depth interview with a major news outlet, but one has just landed today from Barcelona-based daily SPORT.

Spain may have made beating Romania look difficult Thursday, but before the match Thiago made playing soccer look easy. A video released by the Spainish national team of Thiago skills has gone viral among the soccer community. 

The video captures the Bayern midfielder making cross-field passes with another teammate; sounds simple enough right? Oh yeah, I forget to mention that he's juggling and passing the ball between teammates without the ball touching the ground.

Sergio Ramos picking up a yellow card is about as newsworthy as Zlatan Ibrahimovic being narcissistic. This Sergio Ramos yellow card, however, was a bit different.

Barcelona slumped to a 2-2 draw with Osasuna on Saturday, leaving the Blaugrana in eighth place and five points back of leader Atlético Madrid following three match days.

Who needs Lionel Messi when you’ve got Ansu Fati?

Well, Barcelona still needs Messi, but the Catalan club has something special in this 16-year-old forward. 

With Messi out injured, Fati made his LaLiga debut last week as Antoine Griezmann stole the show. 

Against Osasuna on Saturday, Fati was the star.

Eden Hazard won Europa League Player of the Season honors on Friday. 

And it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 2018/19 #UEL Player of the Season!

  #UEFAawards | #UELdraw pic.twitter.com/xcL4rwNdaW

With Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé all sidelined through injury, new signing Antoine Griezmann took center stage in Barcelona’s 5-2 victory over Real Betis at the Camp Nou on Sunday night. 

After losing their season opener last Friday against Athletic Bilbao, Barça’s nightmarish start continued when Nabil Fekir opened the scoring for Betis in the 15th minute. 

Given a much more normal pathway to his footballing career, Martin Ødegaard is thriving. After establishing himself as one of the best playmakers in the Eredivisie last season while on loan at Vitesse (the former wunderkind scored eight goals and provided 11 assists in 31 appearances), the 20-year-old Norwegian is finally getting his chance in LaLiga, although he’s now on loan at Real Sociedad.