The club that reached the 2013 Champions League quarter-finals are in such a shambolic state that they had to release the Japanese forward before he played a competitive game“I’ll never forget Málaga,” Shinji Okazaki said, and that much at least was true. Alas, so much else wasn’t. The Spanish second division team announced the signing of the former Leicester City player at 3.04pm on 30 July; at six minutes past midnight on 3 September, as the transfer window closed in La Liga, they announced that they were releasing him. Amid a crisis that could yet have far more serious consequences, Málaga had been unable to register the Japan international because of the salary limit. He leaves without playing a competitive...
Two goals on his competitive home debut helped lead Barcelona into the light against Betis at the Camp NouAntoine Griezmann had watched the best and wanted to do what they do. And so, when the ball came to him just to the right side of the area 50 minutes into his Camp Nou debut for Barcelona, he did. Pausing for a moment, he looked up and curled it into the corner, bending past the goalkeeper’s hand and in by the post. If the shot was familiar, the foot wasn’t. “I see Messi do it in training and I copied him,” the Frenchman said afterwards. Beaten in Bilbao on the opening night, Barcelona had been 1-0 down to Betis, darkness descending,...
Barcelona, PSG, Bayern and Juventus have won 25 of the last 28 league titles. Europe has become the only testing groundD id you feel it? The great disturbance in the force, as though millions of voices cried out in hope? Last weekend, something remarkable happened: none of the champions of Europe’s big five leagues won (a statistic that admittedly loses some of its potency when it is acknowledged that Serie A hadn’t started: Juventus kicked off their Serie A campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Parma).Last season was the first time that each of the big five leagues had been retained, but here was the little man striking back: Barcelona lost, Paris Saint-Germain lost, Manchester City drew, Bayern...
Vicente Moreno was instantly rewarded for keeping faith with those who helped the club rise from Segunda B back to La LigaDani Rodríguez had been a first division footballer for three minutes and 19 seconds when the ball dropped at his feet by the centre spot and the pitch and a whole new world opened up, inviting him in. High in the stand at Son Moix, a Mallorca director edged forward and, he later admitted, thought: “Run, Forrest, run!” All around, 15,127 fans had pretty much the same idea. Down below, Dani did too. So he ran: fast and straight. “I set off like mad; it felt like a whole herd chasing me,” he grinned – and he got away,...
Barça won the league again, Madrid had a nightmare, Getafe were the story of the season and Iago Aspas was Iago AspasSpain organised the biggest party in European football but didn’t bother turning up. The Champions League final is supposed to be Real Madrid’s place, it’s being held at Atlético’s place, and it’s the place Barcelona were desperate to go to, but none of them will be there on Saturday night. In August, Leo Messi took the mic and vowed to do everything to win that “lovely and longed-for cup”. They were close, but Liverpool scored, Anfield erupted and Rome came rushing back, invading their thoughts. Seventeen days later, Messi admitted it was still on their minds and the following...