5 d. ago ‘It touched us from the start’: Palestine savour historic night in Bilbao | Sid Lowe

More than 50,000 fans cheered on Ihab Abu Jazar’s team with the coach and players ‘shocked’ by the outpouring of support during their visit“We are more than a national team, we represent a story of pain but also hope,” Ihab Abu Jazar said, “and we are not alone.” At 8.26pm on Saturday the Palestine coach, whose father was killed in the Israel-Gaza war and whose siblings now live in tents in Khan Younis, emerged from the tunnel and took his place by the bench at San Mamés, Bilbao. Dressed in black, a keffiyeh over his shoulders, he watched 11 men in red, “a team of refugees playing for Palestinians all over the world”, and listened to 51,396 people applaud them, chanting for their freedom.“We don’t play just to win; we play to exist,” he had said in the days before Palestine played their first game in Europe, an occasion that turned out to be bigger than even he had imagined: “The most important day in my life”, a “historic” night that “all the words in the world can’t explain”. They...

Politics

1 week ago There was silence then applause: Gerard Moreno returns to haunt Espanyol at last | Sid Lowe

The veteran Villarreal striker had never scored against the team where it all began – until this weekendHe made his other dad mad and a policeman put his head in his hands, but at least Gerard Moreno said sorry and in the end they couldn’t help but forgive him. In fact, they were happy for him, the defeated Espanyol fans who briefly fell silent when he hurt them standing to hand him an ovation when he headed off, the long walk from the pitch ending with another win, a bit like old times. On Saturday night, the Villarreal striker scored for the third week in a row; it was the first time in two years he had a run like that, his best days finished or so it goes. At 33, it was also the first time he had ever scored against the team where it all began. Which felt right somehow, even when it was wrong.This was a big night. Espanyol came on to the pitch with rescue dogs, the two teams posing together, every man in blue and white with a mutt of their own: Marko Dimitrovic led a huge alsatia...

Politics

2 w. ago Real Sociedad release pressure with surreal victory in Basque derby like no other | Sid Lowe

Jon Gorrotxategi’s stoppage-time winner against Athletic Club summed up an epic back-and-forth contestThe goal that won the Basque derby was exactly the way the goal that wins the Basque derby is supposed to be but never had been before. Wet, wild and absolutely wellied. In the rain, the chaos and added time, the fifth of an epic fight perfectly imperfect: a first attempt scuffed, a second smashed in from six yards, sending teammates diving out the way and supporters into each other’s arms. And scored by the footballer from the frontier, born on the border with Bizkaia, another Gipuzkoan and another academy product playing his first derby. Jon Gorrotxategi hit it with his shin; he also hit it with his “soul”, he said, the day ending with Real Sociedad’s players standing before their fans, singing together.It had started there too, their big blue bus edging its way towards the Reale Arena, circling round past the velodrome and the mini stadium, thousands of fans lining the route, fir...

Events

3 w. ago Rage against the Lamine: Real Madrid revel in clásico win after cheap talk | Sid Lowe

It was just like old times as Dani Carvajal sparked a full-time ruckus with Barça’s teenage star after his pre-match barbs“As long as I win they can’t say anything,” Lamine Yamal said once, but this time he didn’t win and they were coming for him. They said he spoke too much; they replied that, yeah, they would see him outside; they told him talk is cheap. And that was just the players: there was more from the preachers in their pulpits, men who never lose.On the eve of the clásico, the teenager who claims he left fear behind in Mataró suggested that Real Madrid rob and moan, or so it goes. He also offered a reminder that the last time he had been at the Santiago Bernabéu – a kid with blaugrana braces, a glint in his eye and a right foot they didn’t know he had – he beat them 4-0. But that was then and this was now. And, an adult now, exactly a year on, he was beaten back. He knew, they told him so. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Clásico buildup, Hearts v Celtic, Arsenal host Crystal Palace and more – matchday live

⚽ News, previews and discussion before the day’s action⚽ Sid Lowe on Sunday’s clásico | Email matchday liveAlso in the Premier League yesterday, Sunderland clinched a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge thanks to a late strike from Chemsdine Talbi. The Blues had taken a 1-0 lead in the early stages thanks to Alejandro Garnacho before Wilson Isidor levelled things up in the 22nd minute.Talbi then scored the winner for the visitors in added time. Continue reading...

Politics

last month If Tebas had only listened he might have got his La Liga game abroad | Sid Lowe

In an embarrassing climbdown, the game in Miami is off with the league having alienated the players and even Villarreal, the club that was on its sideIf there is a moment that defined La Liga’s fourth failed attempt to play in Miami, an image to explain why everything went wrong, it may have been the moment it was all over. On Tuesday night, Spanish television broadcast reaction to the news from the Estadio de la Ceràmica, live and unfiltered.Cameras caught someone else who felt dismissed and disrespected, treated as if they didn’t count. This time it was someone who was supposed to be on the league’s side, but now appeared as a portrait of poor planning and poorer communication, a lack of consideration that pushed the project to collapse. Continue reading...

Politics