The Spanish FA president’s departure is a matter of time after an extraordinary week which changed the entire nationExactly a week after Spain won their second World Cup, the footballer who scored the goal which secured their first spoke out. On Sunday morning, Andrés Iniesta added his voice to those that had accumulated ever more rapidly over the previous days and hours, starting with the 23 players who had become champions in Sydney and the 12 that had not, ultimately sacrificing the moment of their lives for their principles, the pursuit of improvement. “We can’t tolerate the behaviour which has overshadowed this huge feat,” Iniesta wrote. “I can’t imagine how the players feel seeing that what is being talked about...
Through its actions the ECA is intensifying the influence of Europe’s biggest clubs while disregarding the aspirational onesThe Guardian recently published an article by Charlie Marshall, the CEO of the European Club Association (ECA), headlined: “European Club Association is being cast as an evil elite killing football. What nonsense.” While I appreciate the opportunity to engage in a discussion about the future of European football, I must express my strong disagreement with Marshall’s assertions. It is imperative to set the record straight and shed light on the true nature of ECA’s actions and the distortions it has caused within the football landscape.Marshall accuses me of promoting a false narrative regarding the ECA’s influence on Uefa. However, the truth is that...
Six teams went into the final game within two points of each other and the last relegation place. There was drama and tears“Life hits you hard sometimes; this is one of those times,” Papa Pezzolano said when at last it was over and it was confirmed that his team was the one heading to the second division, hope eventually extinguished in the 100th minute of the final day of the longest season. “The dressing room is destroyed,” the Real Valladolid coach admitted as his voice cracked and the tears came. Across the way, that could have been meant literally; in there, the beers were open and Getafe’s players, survival secured, were climbing on tables and leaping about, crashing into each...
A 2-2 draw at Valencia ensured Luis García’s team will not be among several sides fighting for La Liga survival on the final dayWhen the end came, Espanyol’s captain pulled his shirt over his face and sobbed, a member of staff taking him gently by the arm and guiding him off the Mestalla pitch and out of the first division. “We didn’t deserve it to end like this,” Sergi Darder had said, which was just about all he had been able to say; three men needed to compose him and carry him towards the camera where, exposed, his voice cracked and his eyes stung. That and “sorry”, plus a promise to be back that he knew was as hard to...
Another grim episode in Spain unfolded on Sunday night, but in confronting this, there is hope that it is inescapable nowThis Sunday, for the first time in 1,285 games as a coach and 47 years in football, Carlo Ancelotti refused to talk about the game. He had just seen Real Madrid lose 1-0 to Valencia but, standing in the cramped, narrow tunnel that leads to the Mestalla dressing room where he said his best player sat “angry and sad”, he didn’t care about that and couldn’t comprehend anyone else caring either. So when the standard post-match interview began with the standard post-match question, an enquiry as to his thoughts on another defeat, he decided that, actually, no, this wasn’t going...