Despite Luis Suárez’s desperate plea to remain at Barcelona — going so far as to tell El Pais that he’d happily accept a substitute's role — new manager Ronald Koeman has reportedly told the 33-year-old that he has no future at the club.
Barcelona's teenage forward Ansu Fati and new Manchester City signing Ferran Torres were among six debutants in the Spain squad coach Luis Enrique unveiled on Thursday for next month's UEFA Nations League matches against Germany and Ukraine.
Fati, 17, who is Barça's youngest league goalscorer as well as the youngest player to ever to score in the Champions League, makes the leap into the senior team from the under-21 side after an outstanding breakthrough season with the Catalans.
The La Liga season restarts Saturday, September 12, and Real Madrid will again be heavy favorites for the title. Los Blancos used a late surge to overtake rivals Barcelona and win the league by five points.
The final 2019-20 La Liga table pic.twitter.com/RBzufwDvDQ
— Goal (@goal) July 19, 2020
Friday’s 8-2 humiliation against Bayern Munich will undoubtedly see heads roll at Barcelona, from dead man walking Quique Setién to the elderly cohort of Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suárez and Ivan Rakitić.
But the biggest question mark remains the future of Lionel Messi, who dictates his own future following the most humiliating defeat in Barça history.
From start to finish, the 2019-20 LaLiga season extended across 338 days. When it can prove difficult to remember what you had for dinner last night, it’s equally as challenging to remember that spectacular overhead kick that Aritz Aduriz scored against Barcelona back on August 16 of the venerated year of 2019.
The18’s Prodigal Son returns. Five years, two months and 19 days since Norway’s mischievous sprite sent Cristiano Ronaldo to the substitutes’ bench with a tender hug, Martin Ødegaard is set to the return to the Bernabéu with Zinedine Zidane ready to hand him his second LaLiga appearance for Los Blancos.
Argentina's health system is on the verge of collapse as the country is overwhelmed by coronavirus cases. Hospitals are running out of space and resources are few and far between. The country has recorded 246,499 total cases and 4,634 deaths because of the virus. On the whole, South America is at its worst moment yet with the virus.
Atlético Madrid's fears of further disruption to their trip to the Champions League 'Final Eight' tournament in Lisbon have been eased after the rest of the squad tested negative for COVID-19, following two positives the previous day.
The club's morning training session was postponed due to the positive cases and their plans to travel to Lison were put on hold, but the club said in a statement they would have one final session before flying out on Tuesday, a day later than planned.
Barcelona’s path to the Champions League quarterfinals looks assured after Lionel Messi put his side up 3-1 on aggregate over Napoli by conjuring a goal from the seat of his pants.
After beating three defenders in Napoli’s area, the chance looked over after Messi lost his balance and was sent tumbling to the floor. However, the 33-year-old brushed the dirt up off his psyche and finished beyond David Ospina while falling over for a second time.
Oh. My. Messi.
161 days since punching their respective tickets to the Europa League Round of 16 (and 322 days since the group stage began), Sevilla and Roma returned to the pitch in Duisburg, Germany, on Thursday in a match that exemplified the strangeness of European football’s return.
This tie was one of two that failed to play a first leg back in March, so a single-leg format at a neutral venue in Germany (where the remainder of the tournament’s matches will be played from the quarterfinals on) was used to determine this one.