Football / Sports

Vinicius Jr. ignores racist chants, keeps dancing in Madrid derby vs. Atletico; Real Madrid stay perfect in LaLiga

A tense, chippy affair ended in a 2-1 win for Real Madrid, who stay perfect in LaLiga this season amid jeering for Vinicius Junior from Atletico’s fans.

Goals from Rodrygo and Federico Valverde put Real Madrid ahead early, and a goal from Atletico’s Mario Hermoso followed by a red card eight minutes later didn’t do much to help the hosts’ cause.

Rapid Reaction

1. Rodrygo, Valverde and Vinicius are Madrid’s future

It’s happened fast, but this season already feels like the beginning of a new era at Real Madrid, with Rodrygo (21 years old), Vinicius Junior (22) and Fede Valverde (24) as this team’s new stars.

It’s a process that began during last year’s Champions League run and is now impossible to ignore. One or more of Rodrygo, Vinicius and Valverde have scored in each of Madrid’s last seven games — Rodrygo’s opener made it three league games scoring in a row for him — and together they sum up this fast, direct, clinical Madrid team.

Veterans like Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are still very much present — both were excellent against Atletico — and of course Karim Benzema will come back into the team when he returns from injury. But this was a night that was all about Madrid’s vibrant, irrepressible front three.

After a positive start from Atletico, it was Rodrygo who opened the scoring, firing Aurelien Tchouameni’s floated pass beyond Jan Oblak, and when Vinicius’ low shot hit the post and rebounded across goal, Valverde was there to make it 2-0 and effectively end the contest, despite Atletico’s late fightback. Amid all the noise of a frantic Madrid derby, those two moments of quality made the difference.

2. Appalling racist chants demand action from Atletico

The footage of a group of Atletico Madrid fans singing a full-throated racist chant directed at Vinicius outside the Metropolitano stadium before this game was sickening, dispiriting and, unfortunately, nothing new.

Atletico’s hardcore group of ultras, the Frente Atletico, have been guilty of such incidents on numerous occasions before — …

Football / Sports

Toothless Barca crash out of Champions League with 3-0 loss at Bayern

Barcelona crash out of the Champions League following defeat at Bayern Munich, failing to make it past the group stage for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

For the first time in 20 years, FC Barcelona have failed to make it out of the Champions League group stage, being bounced from the competition by mighty Bayern Munich on Wednesday in a 3-0 defeat on Wednesday in Matchday 6. With Benfica beating Dynamo Kiev, Barcelona needed to go to Munich at get a win against a team that has thoroughly demolished them over the last few seasons, and they didn’t even come close to competing. Bayern led 2-0 at the break, and the 3-0 score was generous all things considered as Bayern dominated both the ball and the chances.

Thomas Muller scored the winning strike in the 34th minute on a goal-line-technology-confirmed goal before Leroy Sane produced a wonder strike from 30 yards out just prior to the break. Jamal Musiala made it 3-0 after the hour mark, slamming the door shut on any unlikely comeback the Spanish team had in mind.

The victory meant nothing to Bayern as they had already locked up first place in Group E, while Benfica qualified for the knockout stage as the runners-up. Barca will continue their European journey in the Europa League, a competition they haven’t participated in since 2004 when it was called the UEFA Cup.

1. This is a Barca in transition and Xavi isn’t to blame

This was Xavi’s second UCL game in charge as the boss of Barca, and he isn’t to blame. The months of atrocious planning and play with Ronald Koeman at the helm has led to this. While Barca have the name, they obviously don’t have the game. This is a club in full rebuild mode looking to reach some level of competence since Lionel Messi’s departure. This was not the desired result, obviously, but it does present them another route to quality for the UCL. That, of course, would require them to win the Europa …

Football / Sports

Champions League: Liverpool survive Atletico Madrid comeback

Liverpool survived an Atletico Madrid fightback to win 3-2 and Lionel Messi scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat RB Leipzig by the same score on a breathless night of Champions League action on Tuesday.

In other games, Karim Benzema netted for Real Madrid as the 13-time European champions thrashed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 in Ukraine on the eve of the start of his trial in France on charges of complicity in blackmail.

Much of the night’s drama happened at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Spanish capital where Mohamed Salah scored another impressive goal, twisting away from a string of Atletico defenders before his shot deflected in off James Milner to open the scoring.

Naby Keita doubled Liverpool’s lead with a stunning volley but Atletico hit back with French international Antoine Griezmann scoring twice to fire up the home crowd.

Just as Atletico seemed to have the upper hand, Griezmann was given a straight red card for a high boot in the face of Roberto Firmino.

A pulsating game was decided from the penalty spot in the 78th minute as Salah sent Jan Oblak the wrong way after Mario Hermoso pushed Diogo Jota. The Egyptian’s 31st Champions League goal makes him the club’s top scorer in the competition, overtaking Steven Gerrard.

In a dramatic finish, Atletico were denied a penalty when the referee studied the VAR and decided Jota had not fouled Jose Maria Gimenez.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport: “We played a really solid second half in a tough game with intense football from both teams.

“We got the penalty, then there was a red card and obviously it was in our favor.”

The Reds are top of Group B with three wins out of three while Atletico are equal on four points with Porto, who beat AC Milan 1-0 in Portugal.…

Football / Sports

SAUL NIGUEZ MOVES TO CHELSEA ON LOAN

On switching to London, Saul said: ‘I am very excited to start this new challenge with Chelsea. Blues fans, I am one of you now and I can’t wait to wear the shirt, start training and see all of you. See you soon!’

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia added: ‘We welcome Saul to the Club and believe he completes our squad as we compete for honors in five different competitions this season. He is a proven winner, a player with huge experience and we know he will be very well-suited to the challenges that face us on all fronts in the coming year.’

The 26-year-old midfielder has up until now spent his entire club career in Madrid in his native Spain, having begun his youth career at Real Madrid before switching to Atletico, with one loan spell at another capital city club Rayo Vallecano.

During his time with Atleti, where he has played 447 matches and scored 53 goals, Saul has won the Europa League twice, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish and UEFA Super Cups, and as recently as last season, the league title in his homeland.

He played 33 of the 38 La Liga games in 2020/21 and scored twice as Diego Simeone’s side beat Real to the title by two points.

They were less successful in the Champions League however, with Saul starting both games of the round of 16 tie against Chelsea which the Blues won 3-0 on aggregate.

The previous time the two clubs were drawn together in the competition, in the group stage in 2017/18, Saul was also involved and indeed he opened the scoring with a header in our meeting at Stamford Bridge before an own-goal ensured the match ended in a draw.

Chelsea went on to play Barcelona in the knockout stages that season while the Spaniards dropped into the Europa League although they went on to lift that trophy. Saul scored a further three European goals in the campaign, against FC Copenhagen and home and away against Lokomotiv Moscow. Arsenal were defeated …