The Quique Setién era at Barcelona began with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Granada at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening. The game’s lone goal was a beautifully constructed move that finished with Arturo Vidal backheeling the ball into the path of Lionel Messi for his 14th goal of the LaLiga season.
Casemiro isn’t exactly known for his goal-scoring prowess. Before Saturday, the Brazilian defensive midfielder had scored 18 goals in 218 appearances for Los Blancos — about one goal every 12 matches.
Luka Jovic, meanwhile, has struggled since joining Real Madrid from Eintracht Frankfurt for $68.4 million over the summer. He came into the weekend with one goal and no assists in 13 LaLiga appearances.
And yet Jovic supplied what might be Real Madrid’s best assist of the season to set up Casemiro’s first of two goals in a 2-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday.
We've already covered the top questions for Cristiano Ronaldo, so now it's time to delve into what people want to know about soccer’s other great, Lionel Messi. The questions range from his jumping abilities to if Messi is still alive. Instead of the top searches, here's a list with five of the oddest Messi searches.
A foul in any sport is almost always detrimental to the team that committed the infraction. In soccer, a single foul can decide the outcome of a match. Mexico can tell you all about it after the infamous Arjen Robben flop at the 2014 World Cup.
After signing a largely ceremonial “contract for life” with Barcelona back in 2017, it’s certainly not surprising to see Andrés Iniesta stroll up to the club’s training sessions whenever he damn well pleases. However, the timing of Monday’s visit is another awkward moment in what’s been a tumultuous five-day period for the LaLiga leaders.
Look who dropped by for today's workout!
Ernesto Valverde is now a dead man walking as Barcelona manager after it became public knowledge on Sunday that the club had sounded out both Xavi and Ronald Koeman to replace the Spaniard following the team’s dramatic late defeat to Atlético Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
Although the Super Cup is a meaningless competition that was only expanded and staged in Saudi Arabia this year for the purposes of making money, the defeat continues Valverde’s worrying history of cocking up with glory at hand — especially when compared to Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.
It’s really quite dumb that the Spanish LFP decided to hold the Supercopa de España in Saudi Arabia. Almost as dumb as Valencia keeper Jaume Doménech after a clever Toni Kroos olimpico as Real Madrid won 3-1 on Wednesday.
There’s a handful of footballers on the planet that immediately demand your attention — when they speak, it’s time to stop what you’re doing and listen. Cesc Fàbregas is one of those players.
It’s been nearly 14 years since Zinedine Zidane felled Marco Materazzi with a forehead to the solar plexus, but that moment from the 2006 World Cup Final still reverberates through time.
In trying times of uncertainty and angst, it’s good to have something to be hopeful about: The next generation of Nike training gear looks extremely promising — I’m talking good and comfy.
The next-gen of VaporKnit technology features high-stretch, anti-cling material and mesh in all the right places. Barcelona’s the first club to reveal the training tops and bottoms, but other Nike teams will release their own collections in the coming weeks.