On Wednesday night, Atletico Madrid defeated neighbours Real Madrid 4-2 after extra time in the European Super Cup. Los Rojiblancos have proven difficult opponents for both Real Madrid and Barcelona in recent seasons in most encounters.
Atletico have punched above their financial weight to great effect to challenge arguably the two biggest football clubs in the world in recent seasons. In 2014, Atleti even broke the duopoly by winning La Liga. This season they could repeat the trick, as the team from the Spanish capital look to be even stronger than ever.
Diego Simeone one of the best coaches in the world
One of the major factors in Atletico Madrid being able to go be competitive against the much richer teams of Real Madrid and Barcelona is the presence of the brillian…
Italy coach Roberto Mancini was pleased with his side s display against Spain on Wednesday despite a 2-1 defeat ending their world-record 37-game unbeaten run.
La Roja booked their place in Sunday s Nations League final thanks to two Ferran Torres strikes before half-time.
The Azzurri s cause was not helped by Leonardo Bonucci receiving a second yellow card in between the Manchester City forward s double.
Lorenzo Pellegrini halved the deficit seven minutes from full-time, but Luis Enrique s men held firm to set up a clash with either France or Belgium in Sunday s decider.
While disappointed that his side s superb unbeaten run was over, Mancini was not too hard on his players.
Games are like this, sometimes incidents change them. The first h…
Thomas Tuchel has told Chelsea s players there will be no time to celebrate if they beat Leicester City in the FA Cup final… because they must immediately begin preparations for another crunch clash with the same opponents.
The Blues have the opportunity to garnish their impressive recovery under Tuchel with some silverware at Wembley on Saturday.
However, a lacklustre 1-0 loss to Arsenal in midweek leaves their top-four hopes in the balance.
They slipped behind Leicester and are now fourth in the standings, knowing Liverpool could be just a point behind them by the time they host Brendan Rodgers side on Tuesday.
There are no celebrations, no celebrations planned. These are special times, Tuchel told reporters.
If we win there s nothing plann…
Chelsea have fined Kepa Arrizabalaga one week s wages for refusing to be substituted in Sunday s EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
Kepa twice required treatment during extra time at Wembley, with Willy Caballero Manchester City s shoot-out hero in the 2016 final prepared to come on.
Sarri appeared to be furious as Kepa defied his order to come off, with Caballero left confused on the sidelines during a long delay.
The Chelsea boss explained in his post-match news conference that it was a misunderstanding , saying he understood the apparent injury to Kepa was more serious than the Spaniard felt.
The Italian reiterated in Chelsea s statement that there was a mix-up and Kepa has since apologised to Sarri and the rest of the team, though that has not s…
Matt Doherty plans to stay and fight for his place at Tottenham despite Antonio Conte being poised to bring in right wing-back Djed Spence.
Spence appears set to become Conte s sixth signing of the transfer window, joining Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Richarlison and loanee Clement Lenglet.
Reports suggest the England Under-21 international will move in a transfer worth in the region of £20million, including add-ons, from Middlesbrough after impressing for Nottingham Forest in a loan spell.
Spence competed for the most duels (508) in the 2021-22 Championship season among defenders, while also attempting (187) and completing (76) the most dribbles in the same group.
An effective presence at both ends of the pitch, Spence helped Forest …
Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Memphis Depay from Barcelona in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Barcelona are willing to sell the former Manchester United forward and are looking for €15 million as transfer fees for the Netherlands international, whom they signed only last summer on a free transfer following his departure from Lyon at the end of last season.
Tottenham, who finished fourth in the Premier League table last season and will play in the UEFA Champions League in 2022-23, are looking for a new forward to add to their already-quality attacking unit. The North London club recently signed Brazilian star Richarlison from Everton.
Depay made 20 starts and eight substitute appearances in La Liga for Barcelona last…
Nelson Semedo sent a goodbye message to Barcelona ahead of his reported move to Premier League side Wolves.
Barcelona and Portugal full-back Semedo is poised to swap the LaLiga giants for Wolves, who boast countrymen Nuno Espirito Santo, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Fabio Silva, Rui Patricio, Daniel Podence, Pedro Neto, Vitinha, Roderick and Ruben Vinagre.
As Barca look to free up salary space and raise funds, Semedo farewelled Camp Nou in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
Thank you very much Barcelona for giving me the opportunity to live the dream of wearing this shirt, of playing in Camp Nou, of learning and enjoying the best in the world, Semedo wrote.
Thank you for making me grow as a player and as a person. They were three wonderful years that I will n…
Raphinha sealed his move to Barcelona on Friday as club president Joan Laporta hailed the Brazilian winger, declaring: We think the beautiful game is coming back.
At the age of 25, Raphinha follows compatriots Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar in arriving at Camp Nou with high expectations on his shoulders.
He could soon be joined by Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, who has been Barcelona s prime target, but Laporta was not missing a chance to trumpet the club s first big-money signing of the close season.
This is very exciting for us. For all of us who have lived through golden times at the club, there were always Brazilians, Laporta said.
He takes the baton of illusion and magic. From the club, we think that the beautiful game is comin…
James Milner believes Liverpool can cause problems for Champions League favourites Barcelona despite his own forgettable experiences at Camp Nou.
Milner was part of Manuel Pellegrini s Manchester City teams that bowed out at the first knockout stage in 2014 and 2015.
The Reds will face Lionel Messi and his illustrious team-mates at a deeper stage of the competition, having swatted aside Porto to reach the semi-finals, and the 33-year-old believes their playing style under Jurgen Klopp can pose tough questions of any opponent.
We can beat Barca but we know it will very tough, Milner told reporters. I ve been there a couple of times in the knockout stages with City and not got the right result, so hopefully it is third time lucky for me.
They a…
Ten-man Atletico Madrid missed out on the chance to replace Barcelona at the top of La Liga as a heavily deflected goal with four minutes to go saw them lose out 1-0 to lowly Malaga.
With Barcelona taking part in and winning the Club World Cup final earlier on Sunday, Diego Simeone s men knew that even a point from their trip to La Rosaleda would be enough to send them into the Christmas break as outright leaders.
But instead, Charles late effort took a wicked deflection off Diego Godin and secured just a fourth victory of the campaign for the hosts and their first over Atletico since 2009.
The visitors had been looking to extend their unbeaten run to 16 games, but were outplayed by the home side for long periods and lost Gabi to a red card early in the…