La Liga
Barcelona hopes Super Cup win is turning point after woes
With a big victory over its main rival on Sunday, Barcelona got back to celebrating _ and to feeling good about its future again.
The 3-1 win against Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia gave Barcelona its first trophy since it was hit by financial problems and saw Lionel Messi leave in 2021, which set off a gloomy period of struggles on and off the field.
“Hopefully this will be a turning point,” Barcelona coach Xavi said. “This can give us some tranquility going forward.”
Xavi, the former midfield star who helped Barcelona win a slew of trophies as a player, had yet to win a title since taking over as coach not long after the crisis erupted in 2021.
He was part of the revamping process undertaken by the Catalan club to try to overcome its financial problems and the poor management by former club officials.
“We’ve been through some tough years, with financial difficulties, Messi’s departure,” Xavi said.
Barcelona’s last title came in the 2021 Copa del Rey under former coach Ronald Koeman. That was Messi’s 35th and final title with Barcelona before he left for Paris Saint-Germain in a tough blow for Barcelona and its fans. The team has twice been eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League since he left.
New president Joan Laporta took measures to try to fix the financial woes and went on a signing spree that gave Xavi players like Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, though the results had not come until Sunday’s convincing win against defending champion Madrid.
“This is special. We had said that we were going to make our fans happy again,” Laporta said. “We have an extraordinary generation of players and they are being coached by a great coach.”
Lewandowski and youngsters Gavi and Pedri scored a goal each for Barcelona in the final in Riyadh, when Barcelona was in control from the start in one of its best performances since Xavi took over.
“It matters to me how we won it, not only that we won it,” Xavi said. “It was extraordinary.”
Barcelona had beaten defending Copa del Rey champions Real Betis in a penalty shootout in the semifinals of the revamped competition.
It was Barcelona’s first Super Cup win since the tournament turned into a Final Four format and was taken to Saudi Arabia in lucrative deal for the Spanish soccer federation. It lost to Madrid in the semifinals last season. The Catalan club has won the Super Cup 14 times, two more than Madrid, but this was the first since 2018.
Barcelona is also doing well in the Spanish league, where it leads Madrid by three points. The Catalan club dominated the league before Messi departed, winning eight titles in 11 seasons, but the last was in 2019.
Its next league match is against relegation-threatened Getafe on Sunday, though on Thursday it plays at third-division club Ceuta in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.
“We already have to start thinking about the Copa and the league again,” Xavi said. “We are not slowing down now.”
-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
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
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
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
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
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup1 week ago
BREAKING: At last FIFA’s Axe falls on South Africa!
- World Cup1 week ago
South Africa to Appeal FIFA Ruling Over Mokoena Eligibility Case
- Nigerian Football1 week ago
Super Eagles Set for Double Friendly Showdown with Venezuela and Colombia in USA
- World Cup1 week ago
Sport Minister Orders Probe into SAFA over Bafana’s Costly Points Deduction
- World Cup6 days ago
FIFA Sanction on South Africa Offers Super Eagles a Lifeline — But a Lesson from History Looms
- CAF Confederation Cup1 week ago
Asante Kotoko End Kwara United’s Confederation Cup Campaign in Abeokuta
- U-20 FOOTBALL1 week ago
Two penalty appeal lost as Flying Eagles stumble at first hurdle
- World Cup4 days ago
Super Eagles Walk Tightrope as Nine Key Players Risk Suspension in World Cup Qualifiers