Madrid’s pre-season is over, just in time for Europe. The question now is whether it is in time for the league tooThe first time Vinicius Junior played against Atlético Madrid, they bit him; the third time, he bit back. If he didn’t do it the second time, maybe that’s because he wasn’t given the chance. A lot has happened in five months – a lot has happened in five weeks in fact, things changing fast – and few embody that better than the Brazilian dashing past Barcelona on Wednesday night and Atlético on Saturday afternoon. “He’s just a kid; some of us could have children his age,” his manager said, but he led Real Madrid to a 3-1 win, only...
Slumping in La Liga, Villarreal have attempted to turn back time by re-hiring Javier Calleja 50 days after giving him the boot“I know it’s not normal, that it doesn’t feel right, but Fernando Roig does the opposite of everyone else,” Fernando Roig said – and this time at least the president of Villarreal wasn’t wrong. Tuesday morning at the old orange grove they made their home and Luis García was packing up after training, worried about the situation his team was in but satisfied with the session and sure they could survive, when his phone rang. “Things have to change,” he’d said two days before, and things were about to change. Just not that much. And not how he hoped....
It was Montilivi that watched it, that lived it, and that would have loved a different ending. Montilivi that deserved it, too“Welcome to Miami,” the sign said. Scribbled in black pen on white cardboard and fixed to the fence by the stadium where long lines of tables were laid out and the atmosphere was building, it greeted them as they arrived – football fans heading to the biggest game of the year. Mostly, they strolled from town, through narrow, old streets, yellow ribbons attached to every lamppost, along the river where the houses overlooking the water are brightly coloured, not pastel, across the bridge and up a gentle hill in the sunshine. There, past concrete police controls was another sign,...
Right now, it’s not unrealistic to suggest Getafe’s well-travelled striker could contribute if he got the call to represent SpainJorge Molina set out in an old Seat 850, sitting proudly behind the wheel of a car that hadn’t come off the production line for 30 years and shuddered as it made its way down the road, so the journey was bound to take a while. It’s a long way from Alcoyano to Europe and the verge of the national team, after all, but he’s nearly there now. Looking up from the bottom of tercera division, the place where it all began around the turn of the century, 466 teams stand between you and the very top; looking up from the...
The Athletic Bilbao forward is not a prolific scorer but, against Sevilla, his incredible sprint and finish astonished San Mamés When the ball came to Iñaki Williams and he spun, turning it sharply around Sergi Gómez and into the centre circle, a single thought and word occurred to everyone inside San Mamés, Iñaki included: Run! And so he ran. He ran like no one they’d ever seen run before: faster and faster until somehow, eight seconds later and 70 metres away, he was standing before them roaring, and Athletic were 2-0 up with five minutes left, Sevilla beaten. All around they went wild, as breathless as he was. Related: 'All guilty': Marseille fans spell out their anger at players, coach...