La Liga
‘CIVIL WAR’ IN BARCELONA!
Lionel Messi hits out at Barcelona sporting director and former team-mate Eric Abidal over his claim that players got Ernesto Valverde the sack. The Argentine star insists ‘those responsible off the pitch must also assume their responsibilities’
According to Daily Mail, the most important player in Barcelona’s history, Messi, rarely gets embroiled in controversy but he took to Instagram on Tuesday to respond to claims made by Abidal in an interview that ‘many players were not satisfied’ with Valverde.
Messi posted: ‘I honestly don’t like doing these things but I think everyone has to be responsible for their tasks and take care of their decisions.
‘The players [have to be responsible for] what happens on the pitch and
we are the first to recognize it when we did not do things well.
‘Those responsible off the pitch must also assume their responsibilities and above all take responsibility for their decisions (…) I think when he [Abidal] talks about players, he has to give names because if not he is tarnishing everyone and fueling speculation that is not true.’
Messi’s shock response to Abidal’s comments come just a day after revelations in Diario AS that two Barcelona players had a training ground disagreement last week as tension at the club rose over Valverde’s sacking.
After Quique Setien lost his first away game against Valencia 10 days ago it made for an uneasy atmosphere at the club’s Joan Gamper training ground and AS reported that last Tuesday two players squared-up to each other after one had been guilty of showboating the other.
Pressure eased on coach Setien on Sunday when Barcelona beat Levante 2-1 to move back to within two points of Real Madrid at the top of the table. But the coach was asked after the game why in the last couple of matches players have stopped joining in a pre-match huddle.
Abidal said of Valverde’s sacking in his Sport interview: ‘A lot of players were no satisfied and did not work hard [with previous coach]. And there was also an internal communication issue. The coach-dressing room relationship has always been good, but there are things that I can sense as a former player. I told the club what I thought and a decision had to be made.’
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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