6 DAYS AGO - After more than 1,000 matches across 22 years, midfield maestro brings down the curtain on his playing days“It has been like a story that starts on the playground in Fuentealbilla,” Andrés Iniesta said, and now this was The End. In the auditorium in Barcelona’s old port where he had just announced his retirement on Tuesday afternoon, there was a lot of applause, some tears and a request, delivered softly, almost apologetically, like everything he says. Could his family come down, Iniesta asked, shielding his eyes from the spotlight? And could that picture go back up? As they made for the stairs, on the screen above he appeared again, the way he was. A tiny boy, about four, in a red jumper and blue dungarees, foot on the ball.For that boy, Iniesta said, one night in Belgium would have been enough, but there were 1,015 more of them, across 22 years. They were the best nights of his life and the lives of many others too, which is what gave them meaning, what gave all of it meaning. Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - Girona’s goalkeeper, once of Gillingham, saved three penalties against Athletic in a game that defied belief“I don’t remember a game like it,” Paulo Gazzaniga said. And nor does anyone else. Nobody had done done what he had just done: not his brother Gianfranco, not his dad Daniel, goalkeepers like him, not anyone, not here.“Incredible,” Michel Sánchez called it; Ernesto Valverde went for “farcical”. When Girona and Athletic’s coaches embraced at the end of a sunny Sunday afternoon, the last of 27 shots having finally settled a chaotic game in Catalonia, a 99th-minute winner from the best striker Montilivi has seen still overshadowed by three that didn’t go in, Valverde wore a shrug and a smile that said silly, innit. Which is was. It was also brilliant. And bad. And fun, which football’s meant to be. Continue reading... Collapse

02/10/2024 - Club handed €45,000 fine and south stand shutdownFurther punishment over alleged racist abuse possibleThe Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has handed Atlético Madrid a €45,000 (£37,000) fine and ordered a three-game partial closure of their Cívitas Metropolitano stadium after Sunday night’s city derby was suspended when supporters threw objects at the Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The club could also still face further punishment as the government’s anti-violence commission investigates allegations of racist abuse aimed at Vinícius Júnior.The referee, Mateo Busquets Ferrer, took the teams off the pitch in the 68th minute, per the formal protocol, after two appeals over the loud speakers did not stop the missiles, including lighters, bottles and plastic bags. The teams returned to the pitch 15 minutes later and the game was concluded with a late Atlético equaliser. Continue reading... Collapse

30/09/2024 - Forward tormented Barça to get his career back on track a year after career-altering display against the same team“These things are in me,” Bryan Zaragoza said. “You don’t learn this, you have it. And I have it.” La Liga’s second smallest player, 5ft 5in of fun, was wearing its biggest smile, more than a hint of mischief in there. He had only gone and done it again. The cheeky kid with a twinkle in his eye and a twinkle in his toes too, who grew up idolising Lionel Messi, watching videos of Ronaldinho, following Neymar and playing football on the streets of 4 de Diciembre, Málaga, had left Barcelona on the floor once more. This was naughty.In early October 2023 Bryan had taken unbeaten Barcelona apart, scoring twice for Granada en route to a 2-2 draw, his life turned upside down. A year on, he took unbeaten Barcelona apart again, scoring one and providing another for Osasuna en route to a 4-2 win, life turned back upright. Two meetings, one assist, three goals, can I play you every Collapse

29/09/2024 - Diego Simeone insisted that Atlético Madrid “do not need these people in our stands” after the derby against Real Madrid was stopped for 15 minutes and the players were taken off the pitch because of missiles thrown at Thibaut Courtois.The Atlético coach Simeone and his captain Koke approached the south end in an attempt to get them to stop while defender Joséma Giménez got involved in a discussion with supporters, including some wearing balaclavas, before the referee, Mateo Busquets Ferrer, took the teams off the pitch. “I hope these people don’t come back to the stadium,” Koke said. Continue reading... Collapse

28/09/2024 - Former Chelsea midfielder looks at home in an Atlético shirt and can underline his worth against Real Madrid on SundayThere were 18,752 fans there the day the Valley celebrated its hundredth birthday and Jude Bellingham made his first league start, at 16 years and 77 days. Charlton were second in the Championship, unbeaten in six games, and had the chance to go top. But on a bad-tempered September afternoon in 2019 during which their coach, Lee Bowyer, was sent off for grabbing a spare ball that had been thrown on to the pitch, they were defeated 1-0 by Birmingham, and ended up being relegated that season.It was Bellingham who scored the goal, of course, celebrating arms wide before the stands. “As the son of one of the most prolific strikers to have graced the non-league game, he should have learned a thing or two,” said the Observer’s match report. Continue reading... Collapse

22/09/2024 - Milan beat Inter 2-1; Atlético draw 1-1 with VallecanoBarcelona thrash Villarreal 5-1; Leverkusen win thrillerMatteo Gabbia ended Milan’s derby drought as his late header earned a dramatic 2-1 victory against Inter to ease the pressure on their manager Paulo Fonseca.The defender’s 89th-minute goal restored the lead given to Milan by Christian Pulisic before Federico Dimarco’s first-half equaliser and ended a run of six successive defeats by the Rossoneri’s arch-rivals. Continue reading... Collapse