Spain

Real Madrid’s hopes of winning the treble suffered a blow as Celta Vigo scored an improbable 2-1 victory in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real will now look to overturn the deficit on January 25 at the Balaidos in Galicia. 

Zinedine Zidane has seen his total number of losses as Real Madrid manager double in the space of three days, although that speaks more for his remarkable success at the helm than it does any sort of crisis in the Spanish capital.

According to reports from German weekly sports magazine Sport Bild, Bayern Munich midfielder and Spanish legend Xabi Alonso is planning to retire at the end of the season. Alonso, who still plays a key role for the Bavarian club in the center of the park, is said to have informed the club of his decision to hang up his boots at the conclusion of this season.

Three days after Real Madrid heroically set the Spanish unbeaten streak record by scoring at the death against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, Sevilla returned the favor in La Liga action on Sunday.

Luis Enrique opted to leave Neymar, Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and Gerard Pique out of the starting XI for Barcelona’s match against Las Palmas at the Camp Nou on Saturday, even though the side from the Canary Islands is eighth in La Liga.

But this is Barcelona, and they thrashed their opposition behind the primary strength of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi. Suarez scored a brace and Messi added one of his own, bringing them both to 14 La Liga goals on the season as joint top-scorers.

With Barcelona desperate to sign Lionel Messi to a longterm deal (his current contract expires in the summer of 2018), the club have reacted quickly to negative statements concerning Messi by their head of sporting relations, Pere Gratacos, by removing him from his post.

On Friday, Gratacos said, “Messi would not be as good without Iniesta, Neymar and co. He’s the best, this is true.”

Sevilla and Real Madrid drew 3-3 in their Copa del Rey round of 16 second leg match, extending Real’s unbeaten run to 40 games, and Los Blancos advanced to the quarterfinals, 6-3 on aggregate. Karim Benzema scored with the final touch of the match to continue Madrid's remarkable streak. 

Goals from Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi helped Barcelona overturn a 2-1 deficit and advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey at the expense of Athletic Bilbao, 4-3 on aggregate.

Lionel Messi had given Barcelona hope after striking a gorgeous free kick in the opening leg at the San Mames, but Barcelona still had it all to do against a Bilbao side that showed absolutely no fear against the Spanish giants. 

The rumor mill has been heating up as clubs start making moves this January. One big-time rumor that might make waves in the coming weeks, should it turn into reality, is Manchester City’s reported interest in Ivan Rakitic.

The Barcelona midfielder has been warming the bench for Luis Enrique’s side since early December, and a move to play under Pep Guardiola might prove alluring to the Croatian playmaker.

Still, how well would he fit into Guardiola’s team?

Real Madrid cruised to a 5-0 victory over Granada on Saturday, moving six points clear of Barcelona in the La Liga table. Goals from Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Casemiro and a brace from Isco condemned Granada to their tenth defeat of the season — they’re currently 19th in the table.

The Bernabeu crowd were treated to five goals within the hour, and Real Madrid made it 39 consecutive matches unbeaten, equalling the all time Spanish record.

The prematch festivities included a presentation of Cristiano Ronaldo’s fourth Ballon d’Or trophy.