Escribá’s appointment was a shock on the eve of the season but Villarreal have moved serenely into fourth place with a more relaxed approachFran Escribá was wearing swimming trunks and was on his way down to get an ice cream when the phone rang. It was 10 August, half past 11 at night, by the beach in Puig and he had missed a couple of calls already. He was on holiday after all, a football manager out of a job and pretty sure he wasn’t going to be in one any moment now: it was too late to start a season and too soon to save one. This time he recognised the number and picked up. “Hey,” he was told,...
The ruthless centre-back stepped up again when it mattered most to score his 62nd Real Madrid goal and earn a draw that felt like a victory in el clásicoIt was time, Ramos time. In fact, if anything, he was a little early. The clock had reached 89 minutes in the first clásico of the season and Barcelona were winning 1-0, Madrid’s lead at the top reduced to three points, game on again, and Luka Modric was standing by the ball out on the left where Arda Turan had gifted them one last chance, the kind of moment this man is made for. Thirty yards away, Sergio Ramos nodded “over here” at him, eyebrows, eyes and head gesturing surreptitiously. At least...
Barça captain Andrés Iniesta had his team humming against Real Madrid and has been tested by scientists who believe they can identify in-game intelligenceLess than a minute after replacing Ivan Rakitic during a strangely discordant el clásico, Andrés Iniesta had Barcelona humming sweeter harmonies again. His first act was to float to the centre, collect from Gerard Piqué and exchange a wall-pass with Lionel Messi – bam, bam, bam – which started a 31-pass move. His next was to set up Neymar for a chance he smashed over. Later he steered a glorious eye of the needle ball that Messi, with the match at his feet, screwed wide.True, Madrid stole an equaliser at the death but with Iniesta back from...
Madrid have won La Liga only once in the past eight years but victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou would put them nine points clear of their rivalsZidane scored for Real Madrid this week – Enzo Zidane, that is. Just when his dad thought things could not get any better, the 21-year-old got a goal on his debut – 17 minutes after he walked on to the Bernabéu pitch and a decade after his father last walked off it.It is 3,861 days since Zinedine was a Madrid player; 333 days since he became the Madrid manager and he is already a European Champion, a European Super Cup champion and a very proud parent. Win on Saturday afternoon and the...
Barcelona were not beaten, but they were battered in San Sebastián, leaving Luis Enrique to admit it had been ‘a miracle’ to escape with a pointAt least he ate well. Luis Enrique returned to San Sebastián, the most beautiful place in Spain, land of Patxarán, pil-pil and pintxos, tapas nailed to bread with lethal-looking cocktail sticks, of T-bones the size of T-Rexes and more Michelin stars than anywhere in Europe, and left the way he did last time and the time before that; the way that FC Barcelona have left every time they’ve been since 2007. For almost a decade now, they’ve departed defeated. Emotionally, at least. Actually too, most of the time. Six months back Luis Enrique said that...