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.
Germany's World Cup-winning midfielder Mesut Özil announced his retirement from football at the age of 34 on Wednesday.
The former Real Madrid and Arsenal player was a key member of Germany's World Cup-winning side in Brazil in 2014.
He retired from the squad in 2018 amid a political debate in Germany about an influx of migrants and after backlash over a photograph taken with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, saying he faced "racism and disrespect" over his Turkish ancestry.
Talking points from the weekend in European soccer leagues:
BARCELONA TAKE HUGE STEP TOWARDS LALIGA TITLE
Barcelona have tightened their grip at the top of the LaLiga standings after an electric 2-1 comeback win in an El Clásico against bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday.
Franck Kessié's stunner in added time gave Barça a well-earned victory that left second-placed Real trailing the leaders by 12 points with only 12 games to be played.
NYON — Holders Real Madrid will play 2021 winners Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals while Manchester City's Pep Guardiola will visit his former club Bayern Munich after the teams were drawn together on Friday.
Reigning Serie A champions AC Milan will face this season's runaway leaders Napoli in an all-Italian clash while Inter Milan play Portuguese side Benfica.
César Montes está listo para enfrentar uno de los desafíos más duros desde que arribó a LaLiga: Real Madrid.
Espanyol visitará a los merengues este sábado 11 de marzo, tratando de sumar puntos que lo alejen del descenso y extender la racha de tres partidos que lleva la Casa Blanca sin conocer la victoria
Montes liderará la defensa periquita y confía que su equipo algo de daño puede hacerle al Real Madrid.
Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 1-0 on Thursday at the Santiago Bernabéu in the first of two legs of their Copa del Rey semifinal. The victory came as a surprise to some as Barça were without star players Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé.
Last Sunday, Almería defeated Barcelona 1-0 in LaLiga for a shock result. Following back-to-back losses (the other to Manchester United) and with a less than ideal starting XI, Real Madrid seemed destined to win the first leg at home. That wasn’t the case, and it should’ve been a 2-0 win for Barcelona.
After earning rave reviews for its presentation of Major League Soccer on opening weekend, Apple TV is wasting no time in hooking more fútbol fans to its product with the release of a trailer (narrated by David Beckham) and release date for a new documentary, Real Madrid: Until The End.
Domestic action returns to the fore with the FA Cup, Copa del Rey and Coupe de France dominating the midweek action, but the Champions League is set to return with the Round of 16 second legs on March 7/8-14/15.
We've got some dynamite return legs brewing with five of the eight matches separated by one goal or less, and who knows, maybe Liverpool can finally deliver some excitement now that nothing's expected from them.
MADRID — Ten-man Atletico Madrid dealt a blow to Real Madrid's LaLiga title hopes when they held the defending champions to a 1-1 draw at their Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Saturday.
After substitute Angel Correa had got a straight red card in the 64th minute for an elbow to the chest of defender Antonio Ruediger, Jose Maria Gimenez gave Atletico the lead when he netted a header from an Antoine Griezmann free kick in the 78th minute.
Netflix has been killing it already this year with a collection of celebrated sports shows that take you behind-the-scenes to a degree that few other projects have ever been able to. Much of that stems from the success of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, which has given birth to an entire generation of American F1 fans as the docuseries releases its fifth season.