La Liga
CATALONIA CLUB, GIRONA STUNS SPAIN’S REAL MADRID
Nigeria’s Kayode Olarenwaju played for eight minutes in Catalonia-based Girona’s 2-1 defeat of Spanish giants, Real Madrid in Sunday’s La Liga duel. Sports Village Square gathered from AP that the victory is seen more as a political feat by the Catalonia independence agitators as it was celebrated by many throughout Catalonia on Sunday.
The small Catalan club stunned Madrid, the team of the Spanish establishment, with a 2-1 come-from-behind win in the Spanish league — just days after the wealthy north-eastern region declared independence to heighten tensions in a dispute with the central government.
Pro-independence politicians were quick to celebrate. “Girona’s victory over one of the great teams in the world is an example and a reference for many situations,” tweeted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.
It was Madrid’s first trip to Catalonia since Spain’s political crisis escalated. The match was played after hundreds of thousands of Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona to voice their opposition to the unilateral declaration of independence.
Catalonia’s political leadership was fired Saturday by central authorities in Madrid who are trying to tame the worst political turmoil Spain has seen in decades.
“Today, all of Spain and a great part of the world saw that a small team can achieve anything in this great game of football when it does things well, when it has ambition and pride,” Girona coach Pablo Machin said.
The result left Madrid eight points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona, which on Saturday won 2-0 at Athletic Bilbao for its ninth victory in 10 league matches.
Second-place Valencia, which won 2-1 at Alaves on Saturday, is four points off the lead.
“We can still overcome this,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “We will have better days and our rivals will eventually lose points.”
Despite security concerns ahead of the Spanish capital team’s visit to Girona, a city filled with separatist sentiment just north of Barcelona; there were no major incidents before, during or after the game.
Several pro-independence flags were on display at the small Montilivi Stadium, and the crowd sang “freedom” chants, but nothing disrupted the match. A few Real Madrid supporters could be seen mixed with the local fans in the stands.
Most in the crowd of nearly 14,000 were on their feet throughout the final minutes, and celebrated loudly when the final whistle was blown.
Girona, in its inaugural season in the first division, played well from the start, keeping Madrid from imposing its game.
It almost opened the scoring just before Madrid’s first goal in the 12th minute, when Pablo Maffeo’s shot struck the far post. The Madrid defence picked up the rebound and started a quick counterattack which culminated with Isco scoring a few seconds later after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot was partly saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
The hosts turned the match around with quick goals early in the second half. Veteran striker Christian Stuani equalized with a low shot from inside the area in the 54th, and Portu netted the winner four minutes later from close range. Replays showed that Portu was slightly offside.
“We struggled a lot,” Madrid midfielder Casemiro said. “It’s a complicated moment, but we have to stay calm. We need to start playing better, we need to work harder.”
Lucas Vazquez had a goal disallowed for offside in the 83rd.
Girona, 12th in the standings with 12 points, had already hit the post in the first half.
Girona made a promising start to its top-flight debut, earning a draw against Atletico Madrid and a win at Malaga to give fans hopes of a successful season, but it went on a six-game winless streak until defeating Deportivo La Coruna last week.
Madrid was playing with all of its regular starters after they were rested in the Copa del Rey win over Fuenlabrada on Wednesday.
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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