Big day in Madrid with city bragging rights at stake in the Madrid derby and in reality with the winner most likely ending up second in the league to Barcelona. A win for Atletico over the arrogant and entitled Real would be superb, even if Atletico themselves aren't everyone's cup of tea.
Wu Lei's move from Shanghai SIPG to Espanyol may be a January signing that slipped under the radar - but that doesn't mean it has gone unnoticed by everyone.
Wu made his debut as a substitute in Sunday's 2-2 La Liga draw at Villarreal.
Espanyol reported viewing figures in China of 40 million for Wu's 12-minute appearance.
For the same match, the TV audience in Spain was 177,000.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, the club's total audience for all 17 league matches combined this season is just over seven million.
Espanyol are owned by Chinese billionaire Chen Yansheng and since the arrival of Wu, the Catalan club have seen a massive spike in interest.
Their social media following on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has increased by more than 20,500 outside China, with the figure exceeding half a million in China.
In addition, more than 2,000 replica shirts with Wu's name and squad number were reportedly sold within 48 hours of the move going through.
La Liga has identified the Chinese market as a key area for growth, and if Wu - who scored 27 goals in 29 games in the Chinese Super League - can make that sort of impact in Spain, La Liga and Espanyol will consider the 2m euro transfer fee very well spent.
Gareth Bale could be banned for up to 12 games over his goal celebration in Real Madrid's La Liga encounter against rivals Atletico Madrid.
The league's organising body said the Wales forward faces a sanction for a "provocative gesture" made after scoring Real's third goal and his 100th for the club in the 3-1 victory at the Wanda Metropolitano last week.
The incident will be referred to the Spanish soccer federation's competition committee, who will then decide if Bale should be punished.
If the committee determines that Bale intentionally caused a hostile reaction among supporters, he will be banned for between four and 12 games, according to the federation's statutes.
Bale could, however, be suspended for between one and three games if his celebration did not cause a hostile reaction but is deemed to have provoked supporters
Ramos gets a yellow meaning he’ll miss Madrid’s next game but be back for the match against Barca. No doubt that was the plan all along, although I doubt giving away a penalty was part of the plan.
Ramos gets a yellow meaning he’ll miss Madrid’s next game but be back for the match against Barca. No doubt that was the plan all along, although I doubt giving away a penalty was part of the plan.
Lets hope he gets a 2 game ban now
1 for the yellows accumulated and 1 for the 2nd yellow in this game
La Liga matches will be shown, free to air, on ITV4 from this weekend in a new deal announced by the broadcaster today.
Starting on Sunday with Levante v Real Madrid, weekly matches will be shown, along with a midweek highlights programme.
The best of the action from La Liga, including games involving Spanish footballing giants such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, will feature in ITV4’s coverage until the end of the season in May.
I loved growing up watching Champions League on ITV (and got really sad when BT stole it all) so that’s massive for young kids to be able to watch some of the world’s best football for free.
El clasico tonight in Copa del Rey semi-final second leg, tightly poised at one all from the first leg. With another clasico at the weekend it's an exciting week here for football - you can imagine how much hype there is! Hopefully tonight's game will live up to the expectations...
Saurez with the panenka at the Bernabeu to settle it. Takes balls that, especially as Ramos takes virtually every penalty he gets like that lately, nice little slap in the face there too.
One of my mates is at the Rayo Girona game tonight and the Rayo fans are protesting about Friday night games by boycotting the start of the first half. It's always the smaller teams who have to play on Friday or Monday nights and it's not fair on their fans.
Lots of boos and whistles for Bale after he came off after another ineffectual game last night - he looks totally disengaged and is coming in for huge amounts of stick in the papers this morning. Seems to be surely on his way out.
Difficult to pinpoint what his problem has been as he's scored some incredible and important goals in his time here, but his timid personality and lack of integration with either the team or the culture have definitely stopped the public (and possibly his teammates) warming to him.
Lots of boos and whistles for Bale after he came off after another ineffectual game last night - he looks totally disengaged and is coming in for huge amounts of stick in the papers this morning. Seems to be surely on his way out.
Difficult to pinpoint what his problem has been as he's scored some incredible and important goals in his time here, but his timid personality and lack of integration with either the team or the culture have definitely stopped the public (and possibly his teammates) warming to him.
Considering that even Ronaldo got booed and whistled at, at times, he shouldn't take it too personally. Real Madrid fans are a joke.
Lots of boos and whistles for Bale after he came off after another ineffectual game last night - he looks totally disengaged and is coming in for huge amounts of stick in the papers this morning. Seems to be surely on his way out.
Difficult to pinpoint what his problem has been as he's scored some incredible and important goals in his time here, but his timid personality and lack of integration with either the team or the culture have definitely stopped the public (and possibly his teammates) warming to him.
this has been pushed in the Spanish media a lot over the past few months. no doubt its true but it was also true 18 months ago, why now?. Seems the Madrid media are now pushing the point so that when they sell him (probably in the summer) for nowhere near what they paid they have reasoning and the financial aspect isn’t such a big deal.
Half time, Real Valladolid have so far missed a penalty and had 2 narrowly offside goals disallowed against Real Madrid. 1-1, Madrid's goal a bit of a gift from the keeper.
Madrid look dispirited and short of ideas, a bit like Man U in the final days of Mourinho.
In other news, former Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Man U manager Jose Mourinho is rumoured to be just days away from sealing a return to Real Madrid.
Although it looks like Mourinho might be going back to Madrid, it seems very odd. None of the Real Madrid fans I know seem to want him here and he departed his last spell in typically chaotic and toxic fashion. Man Utd have clearly improved hugely since he departed so it's totally unclear what exactly he could offer.
The Mail is claiming that Ramos will demand to leave in the summer if Mourinho comes back, and says that Benzema, Bale and Marcelo don't want him back either.
I think that getting rid of some of the old guard wouldn't be the worst thing for them, if supported by a cohesive plan to replace them with fresh, hungry players. But if you're planning a new broom approach, surely Mourinho isn't the man to oversee it.
Comments
https://twitter.com/otcpod/status/1093621891485614081?s=21
Wu Lei's move from Shanghai SIPG to Espanyol may be a January signing that slipped under the radar - but that doesn't mean it has gone unnoticed by everyone.
Wu made his debut as a substitute in Sunday's 2-2 La Liga draw at Villarreal.
Espanyol reported viewing figures in China of 40 million for Wu's 12-minute appearance.
For the same match, the TV audience in Spain was 177,000.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, the club's total audience for all 17 league matches combined this season is just over seven million.
Espanyol are owned by Chinese billionaire Chen Yansheng and since the arrival of Wu, the Catalan club have seen a massive spike in interest.
Their social media following on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has increased by more than 20,500 outside China, with the figure exceeding half a million in China.
In addition, more than 2,000 replica shirts with Wu's name and squad number were reportedly sold within 48 hours of the move going through.
La Liga has identified the Chinese market as a key area for growth, and if Wu - who scored 27 goals in 29 games in the Chinese Super League - can make that sort of impact in Spain, La Liga and Espanyol will consider the 2m euro transfer fee very well spent.
Banega sent off for the home team on 84.
10 man Sevilla pull it back to 2-2
Eibar would have been up to 6th if they’d held on.
Gareth Bale could be banned for up to 12 games over his goal celebration in Real Madrid's La Liga encounter against rivals Atletico Madrid.
The league's organising body said the Wales forward faces a sanction for a "provocative gesture" made after scoring Real's third goal and his 100th for the club in the 3-1 victory at the Wanda Metropolitano last week.
The incident will be referred to the Spanish soccer federation's competition committee, who will then decide if Bale should be punished.
If the committee determines that Bale intentionally caused a hostile reaction among supporters, he will be banned for between four and 12 games, according to the federation's statutes.
Bale could, however, be suspended for between one and three games if his celebration did not cause a hostile reaction but is deemed to have provoked supporters
No doubt that was the plan all along, although I doubt giving away a penalty was part of the plan.
1 for the yellows accumulated and 1 for the 2nd yellow in this game
starts with Levante vs Real Madrid this weekend
La Liga matches will be shown, free to air, on ITV4 from this weekend in a new deal announced by the broadcaster today.
Starting on Sunday with Levante v Real Madrid, weekly matches will be shown, along with a midweek highlights programme.
The best of the action from La Liga, including games involving Spanish footballing giants such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, will feature in ITV4’s coverage until the end of the season in May.
I loved growing up watching Champions League on ITV (and got really sad when BT stole it all) so that’s massive for young kids to be able to watch some of the world’s best football for free.
Takes balls that, especially as Ramos takes virtually every penalty he gets like that lately, nice little slap in the face there too.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47418647
Difficult to pinpoint what his problem has been as he's scored some incredible and important goals in his time here, but his timid personality and lack of integration with either the team or the culture have definitely stopped the public (and possibly his teammates) warming to him.
no doubt its true but it was also true 18 months ago, why now?. Seems the Madrid media are now pushing the point so that when they sell him (probably in the summer) for nowhere near what they paid they have reasoning and the financial aspect isn’t such a big deal.
He has agreed a 4 year deal with Juventus
Rumours are its £40M
Madrid look dispirited and short of ideas, a bit like Man U in the final days of Mourinho.
In other news, former Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Man U manager Jose Mourinho is rumoured to be just days away from sealing a return to Real Madrid.
I think that getting rid of some of the old guard wouldn't be the worst thing for them, if supported by a cohesive plan to replace them with fresh, hungry players. But if you're planning a new broom approach, surely Mourinho isn't the man to oversee it.
Think their brilliance in the Champions League glossed over a lot of poor performances domestically. Need to spend big in the summer.
Surprised he's gone back.
Nothing to prove, but could tarnish his reputation if it goes wrong.
I am sure one factor is that he wants to live in lovely Madrid again though
Plus his sons play for the youth teams and other local teams.