La Liga
THIS IS FOR REAL! ZINEDINE ZIDANE STILL ON SHAKY GROUND AT REAL MADRID
Real Madrid have relaxed the pressure on Zinedine Zidane temporarily, with the next task to fix their dismal start in the Champions League.
Real’s 3-1 win over Barcelona in the Clasico on Saturday swerved a third consecutive defeat after losses to Cadiz in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk.
“There are always bad spells,” said Sergio Ramos. “Hopefully, this one has only lasted a week.”
But the effects of the 3-2 implosion against Shakhtar, who had 10 first-team players missing due to coronavirus infections, still linger, with Real sitting bottom of Group B in the Champions League.
A victory away to Borussia Monchengladbach today would limit the damage, especially after the Bundesliga outfit’s opening 2-2 draw with Serie A side Inter Milan which kept the group tight.
Zidane knows a convincing performance in Germany should suspend talk of a crisis and dispel doubts about his future, at least for now.
Even for Real, two defeats seemed ammunition for the uncertainty around their coach that followed. In the aftermath of their win at the Nou Camp, Spanish radio station Onda Cero said that former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino had been sounded out by the Spanish giants with a view towards potentially replacing Zidane.
Other reports in the Spanish press also discussed the Argentinian, who spent five years with the Premier League club before being sacked last year.
But Zidane has brushed off the speculation, saying: “I have always been critical of myself, it is what drives you to improve.
“After a loss, as a coach, most of the criticism comes at me and that’s normal.”
The quickness to question the Frenchman has become a regular feature of his tenure, even while the players sing his praises and the trophies have poured in.
It was only three months ago Real were winning their second La Liga title of his three full seasons in charge, to go with three triumphs in the Champions League and 11 trophies in total.
Success, though, has never been enough for Zidane, who began his second stint in March last year.
His reputation as a man-manager has always been a backhanded compliment, even if getting the best out of good players is surely the key to being the coach of a team like Real.
Inconsistency continues to plague his side. When they stormed to the title during the 11-game run-in last season, it was with no other distractions and a trophy in sight.
With a less immediate prize and against lesser opponents, the suspicion is those players Zidane trusts completely become unreliable.
“I have won many things with these players,” he said. “I will always be with them until the end.”
Zidane routinely sidesteps the issue of his future, which creates a nervousness after he resigned so unexpectedly after winning the Champions League in 2018.
That contributes to the sense of short-termism, an ageing team managed by a coach who seemingly refuses to look beyond the end of the week.
Anything but a win today and the cycle of instability begins again.
-AFP
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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