MADRID — Sergio Ramos is set to become the most capped European footballer of all time when Spain visit Switzerland in the Nations League on Saturday.
The Spain captain, who last year became his country's all-time appearance maker, is in line for a 177th match which will take him ahead of former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon as the continent's most capped player.
After a fire sale of players over the summer that was fiercely criticized by supporters and club greats, Valencia are braced for yet more departures, according to a report published by the LaLiga club with their accounts on Thursday.
This is not a kind goal from Valencia’s Flor Bonsegundo.
As a 27-year-old Argentine, the obvious inclination is to say this is Lionel Messi-esque. But truthfully this is maybe more Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, except Ronaldo always used his remarkable pace to round the keeper — he rarely finished with a delicate chip like this.
So really all you can say is this is a Flor Bonsegundo goal.
We’ve never seen a player dice someone to the floor, play a pass to themselves through two defenders and then finish in this manner. QUÉ HACE.
Georginio Wijnaldum captained the Netherlands in a friendly against Spain on Wednesday, the day he said goodbye to his 20s. The now-30-year-old played 45 minutes of the 1-1 draw, which was in all fairness a fairly drab exhibition. In fact, the most notable moment was watching Wijnaldum left hanging by teammate Memphis Depay.
Memphis was subbed out in the 79th minute and gave fist bumps to all his teammates as he made his way to the socially distanced benched. Well, all but Wijnaldum.
The rise of Sergiño Dest has been meteoric. After all, it’s only been 459 days since he made his league debut with Ajax and 380 since he committed his international future to the USMNT.
But this is a 20-year-old who forced his way into the starting 11 of a title-winning Ajax side before convincing Barcelona to part with $25 million. And early returns in Catalonia have been good — Dest was arguably Barça’s best player in El Clásico.
MADRID — Real Madrid and Serbia forward Luka Jovic has agreed to pay a fine in exchange for a six-month jail sentence after flouting Serbian's COVID-19 restrictions, according to a court statement.
The court said the striker, 22, has been ordered to pay a fine of 3.5 million Serbian dinar, equivalent to around 30,000 euros or $35,000 USD, within a month in order to avoid prison.
Let's face it: International breaks can be difficult to follow. With the Premier League, you know there will be four matches each on Saturday and Sunday, two on Monday and maybe the occasional midweek fixture. The international break though? Chaos.
Some teams are playing friendlies, others in the UEFA Nations League, some are competing in World Cup qualifying, while others are still in the European Championship playoffs. And to top it off, you still have lower-level club fixtures being played. It's a lot.
Barcelona forward Ansu Fati will be sidelined for four months after undergoing knee surgery, the LaLiga club said on Monday.
Fati, who turned 18 last month, ruptured the internal meniscus in his left knee during Barcelona's 5-2 home win over Real Betis on Saturday.
"Ansu Fati has been operated on successfully by Dr. Ramon Cugat... under the supervision of the Club's medical staff," Barcelona said in a statement. "The player will be out for approximately four months."
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his side could not hide behind the referee's decisions or their injury and illness woes after they stumbled to a 4-1 defeat at Valencia on Sunday.
Real conceded three penalties for the first time in their history, all of which were scored by Valencia's Carlos Soler, while Raphael Varane also scored an own goal, after Karim Benzema had given the champions the lead.
Barcelona went into the locker room tied with Real Betis after Antoine Griezmann had a penalty saved. Lionel Messi came on to start the second half and completely turned the game around, starting with a masterful dummy run to help Griezmann atone for his missed PK.
Messi scored two goals to help Barcelona eventually beat Real Betis 5-2 on Saturday, including his first goal that wasn’t from the penalty spot this season (though his first was another penalty kick). His fake to set up Griezmann’s goal was the moment that changed the match.