Spain

In a game that could prove crucial in the fight for European qualification, Real Sociedad plays host to Valencia on Saturday. The Basque side currently sits in eighth place, just one point behind Valencia in seventh. If other results go favorably, a win could see either team break into the top four. Valencia is only behind rival Villareal on goal difference while Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, fourth and fifth in the table, respectively, are level on 40 points, two points ahead. 

Given the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan and across China, how much money would it take to get you to move to the epicenter of a pandemic that has infected 74,576 with 2,118 deaths?

For Sevilla vice-captain Daniel Carriço, that price was apparently met. 

Carriço left the club he’s called home for seven years to join Wuhan Zall on a $2.16 million transfer on Thursday.

Soccer is a sport often defined by tradition. A player’s jersey number is often indicative of his or her position on the pitch, a practice dating back more than a century. 

But Atalanta players don’t give a fuck about jersey number conventions, and they’re on the verge of taking their No. 88s and No. 95s and No. 72s right to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Atalanta smashed Valencia 4-1 in the first leg of their UCL Round of 16 match on Wednesday at the San Siro. The second leg in is March 10 at the Mestalla.

In what will prove a controversial move, Barcelona looks likely to sign Leganes forward Martin Braithwaite. After season-ending injuries to both Ousmane Dembélé and Luis Suarez, the Catalan side finds itself sorely lacking in forward depth. 

Entering Sunday’s match against league-leading Real Madrid mired in 18th place, Celta Vigo faced mission impossible at the Santiago Bernabéu — especially so since Real welcomed Eden Hazard back to the starting XI for the first time since Nov. 23.

But this is the wildest of LaLiga seasons with both Real and Barcelona looking mere shadows of their former selves, and it’s become increasingly difficult to label any result registered against the Spanish giants as a “shock.” 

With Barcelona reeling at the Camp Nou, the visitors having pulled within a goal, Marc André ter Stegen once again stepped up to save the day. The German goalkeeper made a dizzying save in the 72nd minute to help second-place Barça hold off third-place Getafe for a 2-1 win on Saturday. The Blaugrana pulled back even on points with Real Madrid, at least until Los Blancos play Sunday.

It’s a confirmation of what everyone has come to understand over the past decade, but Miguel Delaney’s article in The Independent on Wednesday — entitled “How football became broken beyond repair” — is a sobering bit of realism that effectively illustrates how stale, predictable, undemocratic and hyper-capitalist the modern game has become.

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.