The last time Elche were a top-flight side, they were flirting with unwanted records. Back in 2022-23 — their centenary year — they finished 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table, cycled through six different managers, and went 19 games without a win to get the season underway. Only two teams have ever…
OVIEDO, Spain (AP) — Espanyol snapped a long winless run in Oviedo on Friday, scoring twice late on to beat the home side 2-0 and move into fifth place in La Liga. Espanyol had not won here in the league since 1995 but Oviedo had lost three of its four home games this season, all…
The Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) has said La Liga clubs will halt play for 15 seconds at the start of games this weekend in protest at the organisation moving Barcelona’s December fixture against Villarreal to Miami. The AFE said it had the support of the captains of the top-division sides for the “symbolic protest against…
Eric Garcia being Barcelona’s best defender this season will have come as a surprise to many. Under coach Hansi Flick, the 24-year-old is now truly shining for the first time since he rejoined his boyhood club from Manchester City in the summer of 2021. Before Flick’s arrival, Garcia had been out of the team or…
Welcome to the Weekly Clásico, a weekly column that predicts and previews the key matches for the upcoming La Liga and Liga MX matchweeks. La Liga: Villarreal vs. Real Betis The match between third-place Villarreal and fourth-place Real Betis will headline La Liga this weekend. Real Betis are on a three-match win streak, conceding only…
Before Barcelona’s Champions League quarter-final tie against Borussia Dortmund last season, the club’s senior executives held an off-the-record briefing with reporters. Among a wide range of topics discussed, boardroom members spoke about the consequences of not playing in the summer’s revamped Club World Cup in the United States. The prospect of missing out on prize…
Cristhian Mosquera was the coolest man inside Anfield when William Saliba came off with an ankle injury five minutes into Arsenal’s visit to champions Liverpool in August. “It was crazy,” says Mosquera, who replaced Saliba for only his second appearance in the English top flight. “I hadn’t played there in the Premier League before, but…
HARRY REDKNAPP has thrown his backing behind Premier League games being played abroad as he said the idea has “got to happen”. Speculation about English top flight matches being staged in other countries has been rife for almost two decades. 2 Harry Redknapp believes the idea of playing Premier League games abroad “has got to…
A member of the midfield ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has this weekend come in for fresh praise. The player in question? Pedri. Pedri was for his part back in action on Saturday night, afforded a starting berth in Spain’s World Cup qualifying fixture against Georgia. Advertisement And the 22-year-old, amid what has been…
When Javier Tebas talks about globalization, he doesn’t sugarcoat it. For the president of La Liga, who has turned Spain’s once-sleepy domestic league into a global media brand, exporting Spanish football to the United States has always been the logical next step. He’s finally pulling off what he set in motion seven years ago. On…