Having dragged themselves away from danger, a chaotic 6-1 loss to Atlético sucked Jorge Sampaoli’s side back inThe first to leave was a kitman carrying a bag of equipment and a haunted look. At the top of the stairs, Sevilla dressing room to the right, Atlético’s to the left, a familiar face from better times was waiting to give him a hug. There were a few quiet words but no comfort. One by one the rest followed: Sevilla’s players entered the tunnel alone, lost in dark thoughts, each more broken than the last. The coach moved faster than any of them, just wanting out. Directors appeared who could do nothing. The captain’s jaw clenched so hard teeth could have crumbled....
The racist abuse aimed at the Real Madrid striker is becoming routine and there seems to be little appetite to drive changeIn 1997, Roberto Carlos was racially abused while playing his first clásico for Real Madrid. Barcelona fans made monkey chants every time he touched the ball, held up racist banners and even scratched the word “monkey” on his car as a special treat for him to find later.No charges or punishments were issued and if, after complaining publicly, Carlos was hoping for a little professional solidarity at this most harrowing of moments, he was out of luck. “This man talks a lot, he talks too much, he doesn’t know our fans and he hasn’t been here for long enough...
Real’s failure to beat 10-man Atlético gave the leaders the chance to go 10 points clear – but Almería spoiled the party“This is not goodbye to the league,” Carlo Ancelotti said but no one was really listening and even he didn’t sound sure, not yet. Saturday evening at the Santiago Bernabéu and it was done. Real Madrid had just drawn 1-1 with Atlético, leaving Barcelona to slip out of sight at the top, the only winners those watching in a city 600km away. If this was Diego Simeone’s final derby in the capital, the underwhelming final chapter in a rivalry he revived and suffered like no one else, a once epic series slowing to a close, he could at least...
The league leaders are not yet made in Xavi’s image but have ground out results with help from once-marginalised playersAs Barcelona’s players came back out of the dressing room, along the corridor and turned left, heading down the stairs past the chapel presided over by the virgin of Montserrat, there was clapping and the usual shouts. A “come on” here, a “let’s go” there, a “do it, team”. And then, just before the last of them ducked into the light, 77,987 people waiting on the other side for the second half to start, a voice said something none of them would say publicly: “Today is the league, eh!”It was half-time on Sunday and in the season – 19 games gone,...
The player who had been on the pitch for every league game since 2017 watched his team lose 1-0 to Iago Aspas and CeltaWeird things happened this weekend. The circle closed at the Bernabéu with a 0-0 draw that wasn’t just better than it sounds, but better than almost anything all season. Xavi Hernández, the Barcelona coach who declared “our history says you have to win and play well; a 1-0 in the 90th minute is no use”, went to Girona and oversaw a third 1-0 victory in a row, completing a run from pre-history to go five points clear and become winter champions. Real Madrid, who turned the plan upside down by playing well and not winning, didn’t score...