Spain

Atletico Madrid and England right back Kieran Trippier has been suspended for 10 weeks and fined 70,000 pounds ($94,052.00) following a breach of betting rules, the Football Association said on Wednesday.

Trippier denied seven alleged breaches of FA Rule E8(1)(b), but four were found proven during a personal hearing.

Rule E8(1)(b) states that a participant must not provide to any person, any information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game and which is not publicly available at that time.

Barcelona found accommodating opponents on Tuesday in relegation-threatened Valladolid, allowing Ronald Koeman to experiment with his formation and personnel and Lionel Messi to overtake Pelé for the most goals ever for a single club. 

Leading 2-0 in the 65th-minute, Pedri produced a gorgeous ball for Messi to score his 644th goal Barça. Pelé scored 643 for Brazil’s Santos.  

Emphasis on the assist from the 18-year-old Spaniard. 

Lionel Messi has admitted the ill feeling between him and Barcelona over his attempt to leave the club in the close season has affected his form this season, in which he has posted his lowest goal and assist tallies in 13 years.

Messi caused consternation at Barça when he sent the club a burofax (official notice) that he wanted to leave in August, but then president Josep Maria Bartomeu blocked the move and the Argentine committed to stay this season to avoid a legal battle. He has less than seven months left on his contract and is able to negotiate with other clubs from January.

Since losing 2-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk on Dec. 1, Real Madrid has won five straight matches over a 15-day period — including Sunday’s 2-1 win over Eibar — to finish top of Champions League Group B and climb to second in LaLiga.

The quality of the previous four opponents is worth mentioning (Sevilla, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao), as is the fact that the 35-year-old Luka Modrić has started each of those matches while playing at his 2018 Ballon d'Or level.

It took way too long, but the first women's Madrid Derby between Real and Atlético was played on Saturday. The experience and quality of Las Colchoneras proved vital as Atleti claimed a 1-0 victory in the Primera División match. 

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Barcelona knocked Real Sociedad off the top of LaLiga by defeating them 2-1 Wednesday at the Camp Nou. If you’re a Blaugrana supporter, you’ll only want to see the opening 45 minutes, when Willian José’s opener against the run of play was sumptuously canceled out by Jordi Alba before Frenkie de Jong gave Barça a deserved lead at halftime. 

However, as beIN SPORTS commentator Ray Hudson said, it was “a magisterial first half followed by an absolute circus.”

Neymar was never out of the headlines while at Barcelona and his departure continues to leave ripples at the Catalan club, so all eyes will be on him when Paris Saint-Germain meet the LaLiga side in the Champions League last 16 early next year.