The sporting world lost one of its most important figures on Sunday as Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others passed after a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

The tragedy is one where almost everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they received the text, saw the tweet or read the news.

Everything seemed to go Barcelona’s way. It had more possession, more shots and more help from officials. But Valencia still found a way to win 2-0, handing Quique Setién his first loss as Barça coach on Saturday.

The Quique Setién era at Barcelona began with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Granada at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening. The game’s lone goal was a beautifully constructed move that finished with Arturo Vidal backheeling the ball into the path of Lionel Messi for his 14th goal of the LaLiga season.

After signing a largely ceremonial “contract for life” with Barcelona back in 2017, it’s certainly not surprising to see Andrés Iniesta stroll up to the club’s training sessions whenever he damn well pleases. However, the timing of Monday’s visit is another awkward moment in what’s been a tumultuous five-day period for the LaLiga leaders.

Look who dropped by for today's workout!

Ernesto Valverde is now a dead man walking as Barcelona manager after it became public knowledge on Sunday that the club had sounded out both Xavi and Ronald Koeman to replace the Spaniard following the team’s dramatic late defeat to Atlético Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. 

Although the Super Cup is a meaningless competition that was only expanded and staged in Saudi Arabia this year for the purposes of making money, the defeat continues Valverde’s worrying history of cocking up with glory at hand — especially when compared to Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.