If historians had not located the ancient Sparta territory, I would have guessed it was in the Basque country, precisely in the lovely city of San Sebastian, and that King Leonidas is buried under the turf of Anoeta, Real Sociedad’s stadium, as the almighty Barcelon continues to struggle in the land of Euskera, despite playing against a weaker side (at least in theory).

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise given the outcome of the 2017-18 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award voting (finishing order: Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah), but the three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018 are Modric, Ronaldo and Salah, leaving the likes of Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Kevin De Bruyne on the outside looking in.

Barcelona moved to the top of the LaLiga table on goal difference Sunday after hammering newly promoted Huesca 8-2 at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi registered two goals and two assists, Luis Suarez added a brace and an assist, Jordi Alba had a goal and an assist and Ivan Rakitic did the same to power the Blaugrana to the top of the table. An Ousmane Dembele strike and a Jorge Pulido own goal rounded off the eight Barcelona tallies. 

18-year-old Brazilian wunderkind Vinícius Júnior appeared in his second match for Real Madrid Castilla (Real’s reserve team) against Atletico Madrid B today. The Madrid Derby in Segunda División B (Spain’s third division) ended in a 2-2 draw with Vinícius Jr at the center of everything for Real, scoring a brace while also getting his head munched on by Atletico captain Alberto Rodriguez.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s life is harder than you may think. There are days his six pack abs do not show off very well or a fan takes a bad selfie of him. Sometimes he does not even score for two or three games.

But this? Not winning what would have been a 98th trophy? Not having to clear space in your cabinet for another award. Now that, that, is really tough. 

In some respects, it was the goal that sparked Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus. Now it’s been named the UEFA Goal of the Season 2017-18, and there was never really any doubt.

For all the goals scored by the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League, no goal quite compared to the Cristiano Ronaldo bicycle kick against Juventus. 

We’re only two matches into the LaLiga season and Real Madrid’s only registered wins against the sides that finished in eighth and 10th last year, but the unprovable, platitudinous cliches are already being thrown at Real: “This side plays better as a team without Cristiano Ronaldo!” and “Gareth Bale is emerging from Ronaldo’s shadow!”