La Liga
Barcelona starts critical 3-game home stint for Koeman
Ronald Koeman got a reprieve. Now he needs to make it last.
A visit from Valencia on Sunday kicks off a three-game home stint that the Barcelona coach said must mark a turnaround for his beleaguered team.
After facing Valencia, Barcelona will host Dynamo Kyiv and Real Madrid within a week.
The run of games at Camp Nou comes after an international break that gave Koeman a chance to regroup following a tumultuous period for a team struggling to win without Lionel Messi.
Two weeks ago, Koeman’s job was considered in serious jeopardy after Barcelona had lost both of its Champions League games by an identical 3-0 score. Barcelona headed to the Spanish capital to play Atlético Madrid amid widespread reports that the club leadership was scouting for a replacement for its coach.
However, instead of firing him, club president Joan Laporta ended days of silence by reaffirming Koeman as coach, asking fans to be patient as the club tries to repair its hard-hit finances that have made it difficult to retain its top stars. The public backing of Koeman came hours before another painful loss: a 2-0 defeat at Atlético that left Barcelona with only three wins in seven Spanish league games this season.
Koeman has pleaded for more time so he can get back injured players to help an attack that is struggling to produce goals without Messi and Antoine Griezmann. Forwards Ousmane Dembelé, Martin Braithwaite and Sergio Agüero are all sidelined with injures. Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho have recently returned from long injury layoffs.
Agüero appears ready to make his debut for Barcelona since leaving Manchester City this offseason as a free agent. He had been sidelined with a right thigh problem until he played a friendly with Barcelona on Wednesday.
But Koeman also acknowledged that any Barcelona coach must produce results and pointed to this week’s tripleheader as key.
Next weekend’s match against Madrid will certainly be critical for Koeman, whose team lost both “clásicos” last season. But before that, his team faces a must-win game against Dynamo on Wednesday. Barcelona is last in its Champions League group and at risk of failing to reach the knockout rounds for the first time in two decades.
Valencia should also offer a difficult test. The team that had struggled to find its identity ever since the exit of coach Marcelino García in 2019 has only lost twice in eight games under José Bordalás. Bordalás earned a reputation as a defensive mastermind at Getafe, where he forged a competitive team despite its limited individual talents.
Barcelona enters the match in ninth place, albeit with a game in hand, right behind Valencia in eighth.
Laporta will also face an important hurdle on Sunday when his board will submit its budget, and its plan to seek financing for a remodeling of Camp Nou, to a vote by delegates of the member-owned club.
POSTPONED MATCHES
Real Madrid and defending champion Atlético Madrid both had their matches scheduled for this weekend postponed to give players on international duty with South American nations more rest time.
Madrid’s game against Athletic Bilbao and Atlético’s match against Granada will be played at dates to be determined.
The postponed matches give Real Sociedad the chance to take the league lead with a draw or win against Mallorca. The team from San Sebastián is in third place, level on points with leader Madrid and second-place Atlético.
Forward Mikel Oyarzabal leads Sociedad with six goals, second in the league behind Madrid’s Karim Benzema with nine.
-AP
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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