18 h. 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...

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50 h. 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...

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5 d. ago 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...

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7 d. ago Ronald Araújo ignites Barcelona’s comeback spirit before El Clásico | Sid Lowe

Injury-hit and under pressure, Hansi Flick turned to defender turned makeshift striker to take them top of La Liga“I told my teammates: ‘If I go on, I’ll score,’ and everybody laughed,” Ronald Araújo said but they weren’t laughing now. Actually, wait, no: they were laughing now. Laughing and shouting and swearing and scrambling to escape the bench, like someone had set fire to it. Someone like him: 6ft 3in and 15 stone of Uruguayan beef, tearing off his top and leaping over the boards advertising Kicking My Feet, fists thudding at his bare chest while Barcelona’s players chased him, Frenkie de Jong leapt on for a ride, and over on the far side of Montjuic the manager who wasn’t supposed to be there let rip. “It’s football, it’s emotion,” Hansi Flick said.When it’s like this especially. On a weekend when the first 15 seconds of every game weren’t played at all and weren’t always broadcast either – La Liga distracting everyone from the 22-man standstill protests over their unilateral ...

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9 d. ago Nottingham Forest latest and buildup to Liverpool v Manchester United – matchday live

⚽ Buildup, news and discussion before Sunday’s action⚽ Postecoglou could be least effective PL manager ever ⚽ Slot gambling on more Wirtz and less Salah | Mail us hereFair points made here from the comments section below.Getafe v Real Madrid is Sunday’s late game in La Liga, a local derby. Sid Lowe spoke to Abu Kamara, once of Hull. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Sevilla’s astonishing defeat of Barcelona ends a decade of wait | Sid Lowe

Sevilla turned back the clock to thrash Barcelona as La Liga’s last two unbeaten records vanished in a single Sunday afternoonMatias Almeyda gathered his players in the shade at the side of the pitch and told them to “liquidate this” so they did. It was 33 degrees out there, they had been playing 33 minutes and they had scored one against Barcelona, which wasn’t enough. The champions were there to be finished, Sevilla’s manager said. He had shown them how, now it was up to them. There was applause, towels taken from shoulders, bottles handed back, and 179 seconds later it was two. It could have been four already; by the time the clock headed beyond a hundred it actually was, the men standing before his bench now swirling their shirts above their heads, eager to be released for one last run, over the turf and towards their teammates.Towards another time too. “They told me it’s been 10 years,” Sevilla’s new striker Alexis Sánchez said. This weekend, the season’s eighth, the most impre...

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4 w. ago Atlético crush Real Madrid to leave Simeone in tears and Alonso hurting | Sid Lowe

Emotions abound at the Metropolitano as Atleti’s five goals left the coach crying on the touchline and his team revitalisedIn the final few minutes before the derby day that was destined to be the best they ever had, Diego Simeone gathered his players and asked if they were OK. The pressure was intense, their need desperate, but of all the things that are truly important in your lives, he wanted to know, is there anything that’s not right? Does anyone have any problems?“All of them said ‘no’,” Atlético Madrid’s manager admitted later, when the Metropolitano had finally fallen silent, the singing drifting in from down Avenida de Luis Aragonés instead. “So I said: ‘then play, have fun. You’re good. Enjoy yourselves. A footballer’s life passes quickly, make the most of it; these games don’t come back.’” Continue reading...

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