Diego Simeone’s side retain faint hopes of winning La Liga but both teams seem more concerned with European ambitions when they meet at the BernabéuOn the eve of the Madrid derby Zinedine Zidane was asked to whom the game mattered more. “Both,” he said, but many wondered if the right answer was actually “Neither”. The word repeated most in the build-up to this match is “decaffeinated”. These city rivals have faced each other in three finals over the last five seasons – two European Cups, one Copa del Rey – and met in last year’s Champions League semi-final too. Both have also won La Liga and they have European quarter-finals of their own next week, so it is understandable that...
A Lionel Messi free-kick won the match for Barcelona but their teamwork and sacrifice is what saw them past Atlético MadridDiego Simeone was sitting under the main stand at Europe’s largest stadium but for a moment, he was back in a playground 10,000km away. There two kids stand a few metres apart and edge towards each other, one step at a time, in turn, heel to toe, “bread” and “cheese” accompanying every tiny advance. Eventually one treads on the other – the winner now and, let’s face it, the winner in the game too.“Pan.” Related: Peter Stöger puts stamp on Dortmund to leave board with decision to make | Andy Brassell Related: Serie A pauses for Davide Astori then vows...
In the blink of an eye, Costa had been and gone, a hurricane tearing though Sevilla, its impact likely to be lastingDiego Costa shot up the left, bundled Gabriel Mercado to the floor, pushed Clement Lenglet into Éver Banega and then bulldozed into the back of the Frenchman, forearm first, sending him crashing to the ground, and tumbled on top of him with a thud. He got up, crashed into Lenglet for a third time and flew backwards, holding his face, which hadn’t been hit, went to ground again and got up again, wearing a menacing look, and paced at his “aggressor”, looking for more. He was held back by Gabi, handed a yellow card by Juan Martínez Munuera, protested...
It took until the sixth game for Alavés to win and by then two coaches had gone. Now survival in La Liga is within reachIn the words of one player, Abelardo Fernández is “an ordinary bloke” but he is doing extraordinary things, from revolution at the Molinón to resurrection at Mendizorroza, where at the end of their victory over Deportivo de La Coruña on Saturday, Alavés fans did something Alavés fans never do: they turned their backs on their team. Turned their backs, put their arms around each other’s shoulders, a human wall stretching across the east end of the ground, and bounced up and down, singing. In the middle of it, drums were held up and flags waved. At...
Atlético Madrid, despite a number of issues this season, remain unbeaten in the league and still feel like one of the runners who will compete for the titleQuique Setién says he has told Atlético Madrid’s manager Diego Simeone exactly what he thinks of him but Simeone hasn’t told him back. He can guess, though: it doesn’t take a genius. “He might not like what I do, but he has the decency not to say so,” admits the chess-playing, beach football international, former manager of Equatorial Guinea (for one night only) and defender of an aesthetic footballing faith who briefly made Las Palmas the best thing in the league and is now at Real Betis, if maybe not for much longer....