Barcelona and Real Madrid lost at the weekend and Atletico Madrid were beaten by bottom side Alaves last week.
Could it be a season outside of La Liga as the top three stumble in Spain?
They kept center back Jules Kunde and striker Yousef En-Nesiri in the summer and ensured quality with former Wölfen striker Rafa Mir and Tottenham’s Eric Lamela, two of the striking new arrivals.
The power in the depths is there with two top players for each position. If Lopetegui can make the team play as well as the quality of the team suggests, then why can’t they be at the top?
However, you have to believe. It’s been a while since they won the championship. You may never have had a better chance.
The last time they won the title was in 1946. They only won it once. You finished second four times, but not since 1957.
Villareal
Unai Emery took over at the start of last season with one very clear goal – to win trophies. He won the club’s first silverware in the first season, so what’s his goal now?
At Villarreal you will be told everything is for four, but why not win the biggest prize when the Spanish football giants battle it out? They have a new form of hosting and competing with the biggest clubs in Europe.
Pau Torres had the best young defenders in Spain and Gerard Moreno had the greatest Spaniard last season. They have played too many games this season and are therefore in the middle of the table.
But former Bournemouth striker Arnaut Danjuma looks like one of the best new arrivals for the summer with four goals and if they turn a draw into a win, anything is possible.
Last time they won the title: they weren’t even in the top division before 1998. They never won the championship, but came 3rd in 2005 and 2nd in 2008.
Atletico Madrid have supposedly put a high worth on Kieran Trippier as they endeavor to obstruct Manchester United’s endeavors to sign the England safeguard this mid year.
The 30-year-old has finished two periods of the three-year bargain he endorsed in the Spanish capital back in 2019. Atletico paid Tottenham £20m for the right-back and it appeared to have blown up due to off-field occasions. The previous Burnley ace was given a 10-week overall football boycott for breaks of Football Association wagering rules.
Be that as it may, he ricocheted back to assume a vital part in Los Rojiblancos’ electrifying LaLiga win in 2020-2021. He made 28 class begins for Diego Simeone’s side as they pipped city matches Real Madrid by two to land the crown jewels.
Notwithstanding, it appears to be like the Bury-conceived pro has had enough of playing abroad and hungers for a re-visitation of England. A transition to Old Trafford would unquestionably allure and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is believed to be intrigued.
The Norwegian strategist has Aaron Wan-Bissaka as his present best option right-back. In any case, the young person is even more a protective disapproved of player and Trippier would offer more going ahead.
There is additionally the case of what has occurred on the other guarded flank. Luke Shaw’s vocation has been revived by having Alex Telles as rivalry.
Solskjaer trusts the equivalent could occur with Wan-Bissaka.
Simeone getting down to business over Trippier future
The Red Devils are thought to have postponed an offered of £10m for the man with 28 England covers. Yet, it has become evident that Atletico would prefer not to lose the player this mid year.
In spite of the fact that it was thought Trippier supported a transition to the Theater of Dreams, a report actually surfaced recently. Mundo Deportivo guaranteed that the gifted plug was quick to stay at Wanda Metropolitano and continue with Atletico.
That will unquestionably satisfy his Argentine supervisor however appears to be at chances with numerous different reports. Yet, nothing will occur for some time as Trippier is on England obligation at Euro 2020.
The Three Lions kick of their mission on Sunday when they face Croatia in Group D at Wembley. Gareth Southgate’s side will be searching for vengeance after the Croats took them out of the 2018 World Cup at the semi-last stage.
An allegiance between Wakatake Group and LaLiga was recently announced, which saw the Japanese company become an official partner for grassroots football development in Japan until June 2022.
The project has three core functions. The first will be virtual training of coaches in Japan by LaLiga sports project department and methodology directors from Villarreal CF, Athletic Club and SD Eibar. Several LaLiga coaches will then travel to Japan to carry out sessions with players and help local coaches. Finally, a group of players will then travel back to Spain for a training session and maybe even a career in Spanish football.
Japanese football has always been one of the more popular Asian leagues in the European game. Beyond The Last Man explain how former Barcelona striker Gary Lineker moved there in 1992, instantly raising the profile of the J-League. Six years later, Japan qualified for their first World Cup tournament and has been at every tournament. The game has a strong fanbase in Japan too, as Expatbets document that the J-League is one of the few sports on which wagers are allowed. That allows fans to have an experience very much like those in Europe have, and the game has thrived as a result. That, combined with Japan co-hosting the 2002 World Cup, has helped ensure fans keep going to matches, even in a country dominated by combat sports such as sumo.
The growing interest in their domestic league has led to an influx of players leaving Japan for Europe, with some finding their way to LaLiga. Such is the interest in LaLiga in Japan, with SportsNavi becoming the first official LaLiga broadcasting partner. Now, with the latest link-up, the ties between Japan and Spain are only likely to strengthen. To celebrate the link between Wakatake Group and LaLiga, we selected the best five Japanese players to appear in Spain’s top flight.
Gaku Shibasaki
Midfield Shibasaki already had seven years of J-League football behind him when he left Japan for Spain – he’d won the competition in 2016 with Kashima Antlerswhen he decided to move on. His first stop was Tenerife in the Segunda Division, but he moved to Getafe in the top flight after one season. After just 29 appearances in a two-year stay, he dropped back into the lower level, where he remains with Leganes.
Shunsuke Nakamura
Nakamura scored at a World Cup for Japan, netting against Australia in 2006. It was a controversial goal; his cross sailed over keeper Mark Schwartzer’s head as he appeared to be held down. That was one of 24 goals he scored in 98 international appearances. He won six trophies whilst playing for Celtic in Scotland, after which he had a short spell in LaLiga with Espanyol, appearing 13 times.
Takashi Inui
Inui appeared for Cerezo Osaka in the J-League before moving to Germany, where he played top-flight football with Eintracht Frankfurt. A move to Eibar followed, and he spent four seasons in the Basque country, scoring 14 times in 141 appearances. Since leaving Eibar, he has remained in Spain, moving to Real Betis and having a season on loan with Alaves.
Shinji Okazaki
Okazaki is something of a Japanese legend, playing 119 times for his country, bagging 50 goals. He is well-known for winning a surprise Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, but he also appeared in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Mainz 05. In 2019/20, his 12 goals in 37 outings helped Huesca to promotion to La Liga, although he only bagged once in the top flight as they were immediately relegated. He did briefly sign for Mallorca, in 2019, but had his contract ripped up before he could kick a ball.
Takefusa Kubo
Kubo started his career with Tokyo Verdy and Kawasaki Frontale as a youth but was picked up by Barcelona in 2011. He returned to Japan in 2015, but four years later was back, this time with Real Madrid. The talented winger has since appeared for Mallorca, Villarreal and Getafe on loan, appearing five times for Villarreal in the Europa League. He bears the name ‘Take’ on his shirt and, at 20-years-old, is promising to be a significant player for club and country.
Danny Cardenas, Levante’s goalkeeper who performed heroically against Atletico Madrid yesterday afternoon to help his team win the Wanda Metropolitano 2-0, spoke about who the COPE comments worn by La Liga Marca wanted to win. “It’s a tough question,” said Cardenas when asked. “I wanted to be [Real] Madrid since I was a kid. My family is for Los Blancos.” “
Cardenas had an excellent performance in Madrid that afternoon, scoring ten saves. This is a goalkeeping record in a La Liga match in which they have appeared clean this season. Moreover, this is a record for any goalkeeper in a game without conceding against Atletico since at least the 2003/04 season. What makes this even more extraordinary is that Saturday’s duel is just 23-year-old Cardena’s second league match.
Madrid secured a solid 1-0 win at Real Valladolid on Saturday night, narrowing their lead over Atletico to just three points despite playing more than their city rivals. The title race is good and very lively, while Levante’s win moves them to eighth in the table, five points behind Villarreal in seventh place.
Barcelona is witnessing a free transfer for Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero in his precarious contract position, the report said.
The 32-year-old player is less than six months old since joining Etihad. Because of this, he was free to talk to foreign clubs and make arrangements beforehand.
The newspaper claims that the Spanish giants want to bring Aguero back to Spain after his previous stint at Atletico Madrid.
However, Club Camp Nou will face stiff competition from Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG’s new head Mauricio Pochettino has already set some potential goals for himself. In fact, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is believed to be at the top of his summer wish list.
He also had tendon problems on his return. But recently, he entered a period of self-isolation after coming into close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.
Because of this, he will miss Wednesday’s Premier League match against Brighton.
Manager Pep Guardiola told his pre-match press conference that Aguero would be out for nine or ten days.
Guardiola hopes Aguero to return
Guardiola said last week that he hoped Aguero would return to his best.
“I hope he does, that’s what I want,” he said. “He’s a man who needs training, but now he has a better knee condition.
“In the last 10 or 15 days before isolation, he was perfect.”
December 16 – Spanish giants Barcelona launch their official Behemoth Twitch live broadcast today, opening with comments about the LaLiga match against Real Sociedad.
Match coverage includes pre-match, live commentary and post-match follow-up. Barcelona said that “this program will include first-team matches and will be a key feature of the service.” The broadcast has no right to live matches.
Twitch built its sports portfolio, building its base and reputation around video games and sports. A dedicated sports channel / Twitchsports is just getting started. This platform allows 2 million people to connect directly to Twitch every second. An average of 26.5 million people visit this platform every day.
Barcelona also has large digital numbers and leads the world’s football club with 370 million followers on social media and 1.37 billion interactions in the 2019/20 season.
Channel Barca will broadcast a wide variety of entertainment programs including exclusive live broadcasts focusing on the club’s new esports division, which was founded a year ago and participates in eFootball PES, Rocket League and Hearthstone.
Barça said the channel “will use features of the service to create innovative content to encourage fans to participate”.
“FC Barcelona will be working with two current content creators, but also moderating live broadcasts on social networks and integrating new partners who produce content specifically tailored to the Twitch community,” said a press conference.
Real Madrid faced city rivals Atletico Madrid at the top of the standings with a 3-1 win over Eibar, while Milan striker Rafael Leo scored the fastest goal in Serie A history in Italy.
Like rivals Barcelona, Real’s form will be closely watched at the start of the season, but Sunday’s quick start gave them a win that took them to pole position at Atletico on 29 points.
Goals in the first 13 minutes by Karim Benzema and Luka Modric got Zinedine Zidane’s side on the scoresheet and although Kike pulled one out, Lucas Vazquez scored late.
Bryce Mendes scored both goals as Celta Vigo beat Alaves with the same result, while Getafe won 2-0 at Cadiz, Juan Hernandez and Nemanja Maksimovic.
In Serie A, Rafael Leo won a place in the record as Milan remained top of the table with a 2-1 win at Sassuolo.
The Portuguese striker scored just six seconds later, breaking the 19-year-old Serie A record of Paolo Poggi, who scored eight seconds later for Piacenza against Fiorentina.
Alexis Saelemaekers doubled Milan’s lead before the break before Domenico Berardi’s free kick in the 89th minute gave the hosts hope.
Second Inter remain a point behind their city rivals despite a slow 2-1 win over Serie A newcomers Spezia.
Antonio Conte’s men had to wait until the 52nd minute before Ahraf Hakimi came out of the deadlock and Romelu Lukaku’s 71st minute penalty almost ended the win despite stopping Roberto Piccoli.
Atalanta bounced back from Edin Dzeko’s early opener and scored an impressive 4-1 win over Roma with second-half goals from Duvan Zapata, Robin Gossens, Luis Muriel and Josip Ilicic.
Lazio beat Napoli 2-0 on 10 minutes through goals from Ciro Imobile and Luis Alberto in the second half.
Genoa are now winless in 12 Serie A games after losing 2-0 at Benevento, Roberto Insine and a late penalty from Marco Sau which caused the damage.
advertising Roberto Soriano scored a late 1-1 goal for Bologna in Turin, led through Simone Verdi, while Cagliari and Udinese also scored 1-1.
Paris Saint-Germain remain third in Ligue 1 after a goalless draw with leaders Lille, who had the best chance when Burnel Yilmaz’s powerful shot was well blocked by Presnel Kimpembe.
December 16 – Spain’s LaLiga offered its digital product to a new company for 450 million euros and is now being promoted to a private equity investor.
The new company – LaLiga Tech – will be responsible for the commercialization and distribution of the league’s digital products, including Mediacoach’s tactical analysis tools, digital business intelligence services, LaLiga stadium capacity management system and the LaLiga SportsTV television platform. , An anti-piracy system and management platform.
At the Icade Business Club, LaLiga President Javier Tebas said: “We will transfer all this digitization to a trading company with assets of 450 million euros. In these years we have invested 200 million euros, but we estimate the resulting value is 450 million euros in costs. . “
Private equity investors can be offered up to 60%.
“We already have it in the market. We have spoken with several well-known mutual funds such as CVC Capital Partners and Bruin Sports Capital to see if we need to bring 60% into the market,” said Tebas.
LaLiga’s overview of private equity opportunities differs from other proposals for sports leagues and associations – including the recent Serie A and Bundesliga fundraising campaigns – which typically provide for participation in audiovisual and commercial rights.
LaLiga believes that the dynamism of the private equity market is the best way to increase the commercial potential of their digital initiatives and advance technology. Even though this is primarily a commercial deal, IP is expected to stay in technology in LaLiga.
The private equity offering includes the LaLigaSportsTV streaming platform. Although the OTT platform does not broadcast or broadcast rights to LaLiga matches, it does generate data on content consumption from its database of about 1 million users.
LaLiga announced it would transfer 110 employees working on its digital projects to a new company. Tebas said they already have agreements with 70 leagues and associations on who will sell digital products and systems.
Barcelona presidential candidate Emily Rousseau sat down in an interview with Ara, a Catalan newspaper, talking about her project and how she wants to get Barcelona out of the big hole they are facing right now.
He spoke on many other topics including Neymar, the financial situation, Bartomeu and other things. However, what caught the ears and eyes of Barcelona fans the most was his testimony of Lionel Messi and how he tried to convince him to stay.
Do you think Messi will stay?
“We have to sit down with Messi and ask him for a fee. At the moment the salary cannot be maintained. Messi has written the most brilliant page in the history of the club and we have to respect the legend. But the reality is like this. We will make this sacrifice. And if not. there is an agreement in the end, Messi won’t be around. “
This is undoubtedly one of the most courageous statements from one of the presidential candidates, likely as a PR move to raise awareness of his campaign. Rousseau is not among the favorites as Joan Laporta and Victor Font are leading the race and have promised the Socialists and Barcelona supporters that they will do their best to keep Messi at the club.
If there is one thing that has shown this season, it is the team cannot function on the pitch without Messi. There was no one on the pitch to be stimulated and nothing to show the fighting spirit the Argentine had shown. At least not for now. On that basis, one of the top priorities of a presidential candidate is to keep Messi at the club.
Manchester United star Jesse Lingard is likely to leave the club after falling out of favor under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, according to reports, could follow David Silva to La Liga to join Real Sociedad.
Lingard has been a somewhat forgotten man this season at Old Trafford.
The playmaker, who had a stellar campaign at the 2018 World Cup, has not been able to repeat that high since then.
He fell out of favor after a string of unfortunate off-pitch problems last season, but is slowly returning to the gap at the end of the season.
Lingard had to wait until the last Premier League game to score a first division goal when he scored in their win over Leicester City last day.
Lingard played only two games – both in the League Cup for a total of 97 minutes.
Donnie van de Beek’s arrival that summer depressed him and he only sat on the bench three times.
His recent season was disrupted after coming into contact with someone who was found to be Covid-19 and did not appear in a Premier League team from the third game of the season.
However, he may now be offered a route outside United. He is rumored to have an interest in Spain.
The Daily Mail claims that Lingard’s representatives have contacted representatives of Real Sociedad, who are currently second in the La Liga table, about a possible loan.
Lingard has no contract until the end of the season and is unlikely to sign a new contract at this time.
It was reported that the employee who joined did not wish to lose him for free and would therefore allow him to leave in January.
The Red Devils have the option of extending his contract for 12 months but will only do so with less than a month before he can speak to foreign clubs about free transfers.
Lingard was interested in previous summer transfer windows from England and Europe, but that interest was meaningless.
He is believed to be one of the players United would consider selling as he appeared to be funding a move to Jaden Sancho.
In the end, however, he kept his cool as United failed to raise money to beat Borussia Dortmund for £ 108 million.
