By: Casey Rhine
Ohhhh El Clásico, where to begin. One of soccer's most heated, yet most deeply cherished rivalries.Few of you readers get to experience El Clasico, in Barcelona, while it's happening. This was my mission on December 23rd and should be your mission on May 6th if you are not lucky enough to go to the game in the Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi shocked his fans over the weekend when he made a secret trip to Barcelona and posted a photo of himself in the club’s Camp Nou stadium. The Messi Barcelona trip wasn’t on anyone’s radar, not even the club’s, as the Inter Miami star visited the place he called home for decades.
Following his brace on Saturday during Inter Miami’s 4-0 playoff victory vs. Nashville SC, Messi and Rodrigo de Paul took a brief trip to Barcelona to see the progress on the Camp Nou which has been under construction for three years.
Iconic Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets announced that he will retire following the conclusion of Inter Miami’s 2025 MLS season. The 37-year-old will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest midfielders we’ve ever seen.
Following the news of his retirement, fans have fondly looked back at Busquets highlights over his decorated career. There will arguably never be a more cool and collected defensive midfielder in the world.
Here are seven minutes of Busquets bossing the midfield as if his life depended on it.
The art of the sweeper keeper has been nearly perfected by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, but on Thursday Barcelona's Joan García proved that the role is harder than it looks.
In the 33rd minute García came way out of his box to stop a Real Oviedo attack. The 24-year-old did well to intercept and control the ball… but then he passed it right to an Oviedo player.
Joan García error vs. Oviedo
Ousmane Dembélé winning the 2025 Ballon d’Or didn’t sit right with everyone with the father of runner-up Lamine Yamal being one of the most vocal.
Mounir Nasraou, Yamal’s father, was irate that his 18-year-old son didn’t become the award’s youngest winner in history on Monday. Nasraou went as far as to say that Yamal not winning the award was incredibly disrespectful.
Lamine Yamal father reaction to Ballon d’Or
Nasraou didn’t want to say that Dembélé’s triumph was a robbery, but he may as well have said it with his fiery tirade about the 2025 award.
Marcus Rashford’s renaissance performance for Barcelona vs. Newcastle on Thursday stunned fans and has continued to raise eyebrows due to the statistics that followed.
Rashford bagged a beautiful brace for Barcelona with a precise header and then a GOLAZO from distance.
Marcus Rashford scores his first goal for Barcelona
Of course it had to be back on English soil pic.twitter.com/Q7p34VsX2g
The appearances of Americans in Europe’s most prestigious club competition has become a norm in the past few decades. With players like Weston McKennie who has played in five straight editions of the competition and Christian Pulisic who won the tournament in 2021 with Chelsea, the UEFA Champions League has gotten accustomed to seeing the United States’ best.
With appearances, though, comes the most important part of the game and an honor that many of today’s American Champions League stars have under their belt in the tournament — scoring goals.
The two-time reigning Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí proved her brilliance once again on Friday with a sensational back-heel volley in Barcelona’s 4-0 league victory.
Bonmatí scored twice in the span of three minutes against Logroño with her first being an absolute beauty.
Aitana Bonmatí scorpion goal
In the 21st minute Bonmatí received a cross that was slightly behind her and improvised brilliantly to score a volley with her heel.
Yamal is cooking on and off the pitch, ladies and gentlemen.
FC Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has sparked fresh headlines after seemingly going public with his new girlfriend.
The 18-year-old forward and Barça's new No. 10 has been linked to the 25-year-old music artist, Nicki Nicole, for several weeks, with rumors of their relationship first surfacing when she was said to have attended his 18th birthday party. She also attended the pre-season friendly match between Barcelona and Como 1907.
June 22 (Reuters) - Athletic Bilbao rebuked fans who erased winger Nico Williams from a players' mural, declaring that those who "disrespect one of our own" have no place in the club's family amid transfer speculation linking him to Barcelona.
The 22-year-old Spain international, whose image was removed with the message "Leave or stay, you've lost respect", was defended by the Basque club he joined as an academy player in 2013.