On Indalecio Ojanguren street are two blocks of flats that tower over Ipurua, meaning fans still got to watch the actionA small boy was waiting for the two buses carrying Athletic Club’s players as they turned the corner and edged up the hill towards Ipurua. When they pulled over outside, he clambered down from a grass bank and on to his dad’s shoulders for a glimpse of his idols that neither he nor anyone else was going to get inside. Just across the road, a couple of people had gathered by the gravel bowling court sheltered under the AP8 motorway as it thunders past the ground. And down at Bar Terraza, where framed Eibar shirts line the wall, four people...
The Betis manager endured an emotional rollercoaster on the way to a sensational win that eases pressure on himThere’s something brilliantly bonkers about Betis, the football club that melodrama makes its own, and Sunday night that was them distilled into 90 minutes. Or maybe even in just the two seconds it took for manager Joan Francesc Ferrer – aka Rubi – to watch another rescue start to unfold, living out another life on the edge. Standing alongside the pitch five minutes before half time, he appealed for one penalty, appealed for another and only stopped because he then got something even better. Suddenly, the ball was tearing through the air, through his protests and into the net, noise engulfing everyone....
Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Juve and others have become short-termist as domestic success has bred complacencyJust wait for the knockout phase of the Champions League. That’s when the season really gets going, that’s when the real football begins. That’s when you get the festival that justifies the tedium of the group stage, the greatest football ever played, the glorious pay-off for the grotesque iniquities of the game’s financial structure.Ah. Related: Pep Guardiola expects 'incredibly aggressive' Manchester United in derby Atalanta’s story is romantic but this is the first season in which the last 16 all come from the richest five leagues Continue reading...
The dazzling but flawed Brazilian teenager ended his latest goal drought to resurrect Real Madrid and blow Barça awayFirst Casemiro told Vinícius Júnior where to go, then Toni Kroos showed him. And so, as it turned out, did Gerard Piqué although that wasn’t what he wanted. With 19 minutes left in the clásico it all came together and the next thing they knew this kid was standing there in the middle of the mayhem showing everyone the badge on his shirt, a massive grin on his face. There was resurrection and redemption for all of them, and for Vinícius especially. There was a huge roar too, the ball in the net and Real Madrid top of the table, the league...
Zinedine Zidane knows his side must improve after a poor league run and European loss but nor are Barcelona in great fettlerThe Manchester City fans high in the north-east stand of the Bernabéu who belted out Blue Moon weren’t the only ones who had enjoyed watching Real Madrid lose on Wednesday night. For Barcelona supporters, any defeat for their rivals is to be celebrated and all the more so if it is inflicted by Pep Guardiola, but this carried still greater significance, bringing a surge of hope. As City fans sang in the stadium, 370 miles away Sport prepared its front page. The picture showed the manager pointing, by the headline: “Pep, you show us the way.”Four days later Barcelona...