Spain s modern-day international supremacy has twice hit a crisis point. One appeared less than two years ago, as the shame-faced world champions were left battered and bruised in Brazil. The other? An almost-forgotten friendly defeat to Romania that changed their fortunes forever.
On November 15, 2006, Spain lined up in Cadiz amid huge uncertainty over their international future. Just months after they were well beaten by France at the World Cup, back-to-back defeats to Northern Ireland and Sweden left them facing a battle to reach Euro 2008. Romania had lost once in a year.
Whistles from the fans had begun to grow in volume long before Ciprian Marica scored the only goal of the game. A team featuring Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso and David Sil…
Newcastle United are interested in signing Barcelona winger Raphinha, according to . The report in the Spanish publication has claimed that Newcastle wanted to sign the former Leeds United star in the summer of 2023 and remain keen on the Brazil international.
Barcelona are not going to sell Raphinha in the middle of the season, but the La Liga champions could cash in on the winger at the end of the season if his performance levels do not improve. The 26-year-old has made three starts and six substitute appearances in La Liga for Barca this season, scoring two goals and providing one assist in those games.
Newcastle are seventh in the Premier League table at the moment with 20 points from 12 matches, six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Meanwhile, Barcelon…
Fikayo Tomori joked he does not purposely reserve all of his goals for Milan s clashes with Juventus after netting again in the famous fixture to help his side to a 2-0 win.
The England international opened the scoring from a few yards out in Saturday s Serie A contest after inadvertently blocking a goal-bound Olivier Giroud volley.
That was Tomori s second league goal for Milan, with the other coming in a 3-0 victory for the Rossoneri against the same opposition in May 2021.
Among players to have scored 100 per cent of their Serie A goals against Juve, Tomori is one of three to have scored more than once, alongside Luigi Carello and Francesco Duzioni.
Brahim Diaz added a second goal for Milan with a superb solo effort that started inside his own half, an…
Barcelona s victory over Real Sociedad at Reale Arena on Thursday was crucial for the future of the club , according to coach Xavi.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the only goal of the game as Barca defeated La Real 1-0, moving up to second in LaLiga increasing their advantage over fifth-placed Real Betis to six points.
It was the Blaugrana s only attempt on target across the entire game and they had 44.3 per cent possession – their second-lowest amount since 2005-06 – with poor finishing from Alexander Sorloth and Alexander Isak letting the visitors off the hook.
Barca are now unbeaten in their past 13 LaLiga away games, which is their best such run since April 2019.
Xavi was pleased with the fact their win came against a top-four rival, eve…
Anti-discrimination body Kick It Out received a 65.1 per cent rise in reports of discriminatory behaviour during the 2022-23 season – with reports of sexism and misogyny up 400 per cent.
Figures released by the organisation show 1,007 reports were made during the campaign from the grassroots and professional games and across social media, which Kick It Out puts down in part to an “increased awareness” of reporting procedures and fans becoming “less tolerant” of discriminatory behaviour.
Reports of online abuse rose by 279 per cent, with the organisation receiving 207 more reports related to online forums and social media than in the previous 12 months.
Racism was the most common form of discrimination, accounting for just under half (49.3 per cent) of a…
Manchester City and Leicester City will look to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool in matchweek 18, with the Foxes bidding to maintain their fine away form.
Brendan Rodgers side, currently 10 points behind Jurgen Klopp s Reds, have won their last four away games in the top flight by a margin of 17-1, and they face a City side looking to bounce back at home after being beaten by United in the Manchester derby.
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has not lost any of his 13 home games against clubs he has previously been in charge of and he will be looking to maintain that run against Chelsea, while Danny Ings and Teemu Pukki have personal milestones in their sights when Southampton and Norwich City face Aston Villa and Wolves respectively.
Elsewhere, Ever…
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has saluted absolute winner Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid s winning mentality ahead of the Supercopa de Espana final.
Madrid and Atletico go head-to-head in Jeddah on Sunday as they tussle for the first trophy of the Spanish season.
The revamped Supercopa has received plenty of criticism due to it taking place in Saudi Arabia and including teams that otherwise would not have been involved in previous years, as the competition used to be contested between the winners of the Copa del Rey and LaLiga.
Neither Madrid nor Atletico won either competition last term, yet they will play out the final, with Simeone well aware of Los Blancos obsession with winning.
Zidane may be without several high-profile players but, after t…
Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata says that if Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is calling him, he will only be getting his old phone.
Morata has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge at the end of the season as he struggles to establish himself as a first-team regular at Santiago Bernabeu.
But the striker, who became the first Spanish player to score a hat-trick for Mad
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rid in eight years with his treble in Wednesday s 4-2 LaLiga win at Leganes, insists he is only focused on the 2016-17 season.
Morata stressed he has not heard about reported interest from Chelsea and will not allow himself to get distracted ahead of a key period of matches against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
If Conte is continuing to c…
According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport, Juventus are going to be joining Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Liverpool in the race to try and sign Ferran Torres from Valencia. The teenager currently has an £86 million buyout clause attached to his name, but the deal itself will not actually be expiring until 2021.
The European giants are all likely going to be tussling it out for his signature long into the January window and beyond, and it really does come down to two things for Torres – where he’d be happiest and how much all of the teams in question are offering.
Juve are always pretty calculated in regards to big transfers such as this one, and they aren’t going to dive head first into any sort of deal without first ding their extensive res…
Jozy Altidore has signed a new Toronto contract running until the end of the 2022 season, the club announced on Thursday.
The 29-year-old United States international joined Toronto from Sunderland in January 2015, returning to MLS after nearly seven years abroad.
He has starred as a designated player for Toronto, contributing 60 goals and 20 assists in 114 appearances across all competitions and leading the side to an MLS Cup win in 2017.
This is my family, this club and this city, Altidore said in a release. The fans, from the first day, they accepted me, they gave me the right to show what I m all about, and they took me in. We ve built something great together, and I m really eager to see what s to come.
Toronto took me in, made me a man. They…