Athletic’s captain sought out goalkeeper after late equaliser in a gesture that symbolised why this rivalry is like no otherWhen the final whistle went at the end of the Basque derby, Iker Muniain embraced the referee and then made his way through the noise and the rain straight to Alex Remiro. By the time he got there, Iñaki Williams was already hugging the goalkeeper and soon more Athletic players came to comfort him. The clock had shown 90.47 when Remiro made the mistake that cost his team victory and there was little consolation, just a lost expression, but that didn’t stop them trying. “I tried to raise his spirits, give him affection, tell him it it’s OK, it doesn’t matter,”...
President Laporta had been trying since the summer to replace his head coach and has overcome initial reluctance over XaviRayo Vallecano scored and The Final Countdown began. The last goal Barcelona conceded under Ronald Koeman was met by Europe booming round Vallecas. “I made a mistake,” Sergio Busquets said. “I slept and they robbed my wallet. It’s my fault.”But on Wednesday it wasn’t just him and he wasn’t the one who paid. He had been caught out, Gerard Piqué was beaten, Jordi Alba absent and Lionel Messi in Paris. Radamel Falcao scored, someone hit play, 14,297 fans joined in, scarves twirling, and Rayo were on their way to victory. Koeman was just on his way. Continue reading...
Real Madrid and Barcelona meet in the league without either Sergio Ramos or Lionel Messi involved for first time since 2005Eduardo Iturralde González could see it coming. “I saw Sergio Ramos running towards Leo Messi and I thought: ‘He’s going to whack him,’” the referee recalled – and he was right. It was late on a Monday night in November 2010, Messi was left on the floor, a fight started and Ramos was sent off. On Saturday afternoon they should have been preparing for the latest chapter in a seemingly never-ending story. Instead, though neither had exactly planned it this way, they found themselves at Camp de Loges, north of Paris. Together.No one has played more clásicos than Ramos or...
Rayo Vallecano’s top-flight return was a miracle and now they have signed Radamel Falcao. But all is not well with the clubThis was the kind of moment you didn’t want to miss and on the corner of Avenida Albufera and Payaso Fofó street, down in the People’s Republic of Vallecas, the opening bars of the Final Countdown boomed out. Inside, in the front row of seats on the eastern side of the ground where Colombian flags joined tricolours and the smoke smells sickly sweet, the fan in the tiger onesie roared and sang along. Around him, they did the same. Or just laughed. There were 3,280 people, plus a dozen or so gathered in the tower blocks overlooking the wall...
Real returned home after 560 days away and the fans’ embrace of the once mocked Brazilian shows how far he has comeIn the end, the police had to pull him out of there. There was a party back at his place and Vinícius Júnior was enjoying this more than the last time he was there and probably more than he should have been, but he didn’t care and you couldn’t really blame him: this had been a long time coming and when at last it did, boy was it good. Boy was he. After 560 days, football finally returned to the Santiago Bernabéu and, having conceded inside 200 seconds, twice trailed and been reacquainted with whistles, the Brazilian put Real...