After sitting out the first half of the season because of Barcelona’s transfer ban, Arda Turan is finally settling in at the Camp Nou. He spoke with Catalan paper Diari Ara recently for a wide-ranging interview, touching upon everything from his Barcelona experience to the current political situation in his native…
This is Thomas Partey, aka Party Tom, aka Tomás de la Fiesta. He’s a 22-year-old Ghanaian holding midfielder for Atlético Madrid who’s seen a lot of playing time lately since Tiago Mendes broke his leg in November. He also has the best name in La Liga and probably the world, unless you’re more partial to Isaac Success.
Leo Messi hitting geometrically ambitious free kicks is about as unsurprising of a sporting development as Boogie Cousins getting fed up and pouting. And yet, this geometrically ambitious free kick was spectacular and deserves to be brought up and seen. Messi is so good that this has commonplace, and like with most…
Just thirteen minutes after Álvaro Morata drew things level, Luis Suárez put away a Lionel Messi rebound to restore Barcelona’s 2-1 advantage. Juventus now has 10 minutes plus stoppage time to get a goal, or the Champions League trophy will go to the Nou Camp.
Lionel Messi became the top scorer in La Liga history with this 72nd minute goal against Sevilla, his second of the game. It was Messi's 252nd league goal, which topped Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra's 251, who did most of his damage in the 1940s. A few minutes later Messi got his hat trick, so the new record…
FC Barcelona has just announced that former manager Tito Vilanova passed today following a two-and-half-year battle with throat cancer. He was 45 years old.
Netherlands side Ajax hosted Spanish giants FC Barcelona today in a must-win match to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage alive. AC Milan, ahead of Ajax by a single point, thumped Celtic by three goals in Group H's other match today, which meant that a loss would eliminate them from…
FC Barcelona announced today that Gerardo "Tata" Martino will be the club's next manager. Last week, Barça manager Tito Vilanova had to step down after suffering a cancer relapse. [Sky Sports]
Soccer's the best. One of the reasons it's the best is that there are lots of leagues all over the world with lots of teams within them, and they all come together twice a year during the transfer windows to form one huge clusterfuck. Some of the richest clubs are owned by actual princes and/or oil tycoons, and there…
In a press conference, FC Barcelona just announced that manager Francesc "Tito" Vilanova is leaving the club. He was diagnosed with cancer of the parotid gland in 2011. He only missed 18 days then, but last year he relapsed and missed two months of his first campaign as Barcelona manager last season while undergoing…
Neymar, the Brazilian wonderkid who has already cemented himself as one of the world's top soccer players, announced last night that he is signing for FC Barcelona on a five-year deal. Brazilian club Santos accepted a $32 million bid from the Spanish giants for the player. It's one of the earliest bits of news in this…
This is Real Betis midfielder Rubén Pérez. He decided he'd have a go against Barcelona from like 35 yards out, because he probably dreams about scoring goals like this all the time. The end result is slightly NSFW.
Barcelona got a satisfying result in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, drawing Paris Saint-Germain 2-2 in France, but it came at a price. Javier Mascherano went down with a knee injury, and Lionel Messi, the world’s best player, had to leave the game at halftime after injuring his right hamstring.…
Barcelona traveled to Paris yesterday to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of what might be the most intriguing matchup of the Champions League quarterfinals round. PSG, bought by a group of Qatari investors last year, has quickly become one of the richest clubs in the world. This season, they bought…
FC Barcelona's been struggling. In the past few weeks, they've lost to Real Madrid back-to-back, and haven't beaten their rivals since last August. They were just defeated 2-0 in the Champions League away to an undermanned AC Milan side. They've only won one game in their last four. Messi is hurting, spiritually. And…
In tonight's Copa del Rey, Real Madrid traveled to Barcelona and throttled them 3-1 to oust their rivals from the Spanish Cup. It was a shocking result in what many consider to be the world's greatest derby. Since former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola's hiring in 2008, Barça has dominated El Clasico while cementing…
Lionel Messi came into today hoping to break Gerd Müller's 1972 record of 85 goals in one calendar year. Now, after suffering what appears to be a knee injury during this evening's Barcelona-Benfica match, fans are wondering if Messi will even take the pitch again in 2012.
ESPN FC had a neat piece this week on the ties between soccer video games and soccer fandom, and the idea that even in the days of satellite television, nothing's done more to grow the sport in the United States than gaming. Here's the money quote, from social scientist Rich Luker:
Real Madrid clinched the Spanish Supercopa with today's victory over Barcelona, but Lionel Messi still did something remarkably Messi-like on this free kick at the end of the first half. Be sure to watch the replay that begins at the 45-second mark to see the way Messi managed to get the ball outside the wall and…
It's sometimes easy to forget how good Leo Messi is. He performs extraordinary feats with such regularity they seem routine. Messi scores. Again. Messi dribbles through five defenders and scores. Again. Messi dribbles through five defenders, is hacked mercilessly, refuses to go down, dances around an onrushing…
