La Liga
LA LIGA RETURNS WITHOUT BIG TWO – BARCA AND MADRID
After a brief yet turbulent close season marked by the attempted departure of Lionel Messi, little transfer activity and the renewed threat of the coronavirus in Spain, La Liga returns today amid a fixture list chaos and a decidedly gloomy outlook.
The league was forced to change the days of its fixtures for the opening weekend, announcing on Wednesday night it had given in to the “nonsense” of the Spanish Football Federation, to avoid “irreparable sporting damage to the clubs”.
The season’s original curtain-raiser between Granada and Athletic Bilbao, initially scheduled for yesterday, will be played today. And Alaves against Real Betis on Monday has been brought forward to tomorrow. The first game of the season will instead be Eibar against Celta Vigo at Ipurua.
Fans are not expected to return to Spanish stadiums until next year at the earliest as Covid-19 infection rates continue to rise across the country, depriving La Liga of the noise and colour for which it is renowned.
There is also a subdued feeling as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla are among six teams missing the first weekend having finished last season late, with the latter three sides also missing the second weekend.
The financial impact of the pandemic, meanwhile, is being keenly felt across the league, afflicting even the wealthiest clubs.
Champions Real Madrid, who usually spend their summers parading big-money signings at glitzy presentation ceremonies, are not expected to bring in anyone new. Instead, they are recalling loanees such as Martin Odegaard while clearing out players surplus to requirements.
Still, Zinedine Zidane’s side are the favourites to lift the title after last season’s relentless run of 10 straight victories and the turmoil at arch-rivals Barcelona.
Barca may have clung on to Messi after a two-week saga but are still in deep trouble on many a sporting, institutional and financial level.
President Josep Maria Bartomeu is threatened by a potential vote of no confidence, while the club are trying to ease a colossal wage bill, shown by their willingness to part with Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal for cut-price deals.
New coach Ronald Koeman, a beloved former player but with a patchy record as a club manager, faces a daunting task in reshaping an ageing side whose weaknesses were woefully exposed by the 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Unlike predecessors Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien, the Dutchman will look to impose his authority on a dressing room that many believe has had too much power for too long and it will be fascinating to see how he gels with the players.
Hope for Barca comes in teenage forward Ansu Fati, who recently became Spain’s youngest goalscorer and had a highly promising debut campaign last time round.
Atletico Madrid are used to being Spain’s third force but face competition from Sevilla, who could even challenge the usual suspects in the title race if they build on an excellent season in which they finished fourth and won the Europa League.
Sevilla have crucially kept together most of their squad, having been accustomed to parting with 10 or more players each summer.
Villarreal are also one to watch after recruiting Unai Emery as coach and making some eye-catching signings including midfielders Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin from Valencia plus exciting playmaker Takefusa Kubo, on loan from Real Madrid.
Valencia, owned by Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, are braced for a testing season after parting with their captain Parejo plus Spain forward Rodrigo due to a dire financial situation which meant they were unable to pay their players.
-Reuters/ AFP
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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