Showing posts with label El Clasico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label El Clasico. Show all posts
Monday, 11 May 2026
Sunday, 10 May 2026
LAMINE YAMAL IS ABSENT FROM BARCELONA'S SQUAD LIST FOR THE CLASICO AGAINST REAL MADRID
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| Barcelona team (Photo/Archive) |
Madrid, Spain – Barcelona’s coaching staff has announced the squad list in preparation for facing Real Madrid this Sunday evening, in the 35th round of the Spanish League.
Barcelona will host their rivals Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, in a highly anticipated match that could play a decisive role in the race for the La Liga title this season.
The Catalan team’s roster witnessed the continued absence of Lamine Yamal, due to the injury he recently suffered, thus continuing his absence from the Blaugrana matches.
Barcelona’s squad list is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Juan Garcia, Wojciech Szczesny, Eder Aller.
Defense: Joao Cancelo, Alejandro Balde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Coparsi, Gerard Martin, Jules Koundé, Eric Garcia, Xavi Espart.
Midfielders: Xavi, Pedri, Firmin Lopez, Marc Casado, Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal.
Attackers: Ferran Torres, Robert Lewandowski, Rafinha, Marcus Rashford, Rooney Bardji.
- Ahmed Khairy
Thursday, 7 May 2026
BARCELONA FORWARD SAYS EL CLASICO ''THE LEAST OF PRESSURE' FOR PLAYERS
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| Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images |
With the La Liga title race reaching its decisive stage, all eyes are now on the upcoming El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou.
The pressure surrounding the fixture could hardly be bigger, as Barcelona know that avoiding defeat would place them in complete control of the title race, while Real Madrid simply cannot afford to drop points if they want to keep their hopes alive.
Ahead of the massive encounter, Barcelona forward Ferran Torres spoke to AS about the emotions, pressure, and excitement that come with playing in one of football’s biggest matches.
Despite the importance of the occasion, the Spaniard admitted that players often feel less pressure during games like El Clasico because these are the matches they dream of playing throughout their careers.
“This kind of match is the one every player dreams of playing. It’s actually the opposite. That’s when there’s the least pressure.
“It’s fun. That’s when you most want to play, when you’re most motivated,” he said.
A decent record vs Real Madrid
Ferran already has significant experience against Madrid since joining Barcelona.
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| Ferran Torres is not too worried about El Clasico. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images) |
The Spanish forward has faced Los Blancos 14 times for the Catalan side and has regularly managed to hurt their defence, registering three goals and four assists in those matches.
One of his most memorable moments came during last season’s Copa del Rey final when he scored after getting past both Antonio Rudiger and Thibaut Courtois in a decisive attacking move.
Looking back at that goal, Ferran explained that footballers barely have time to process what is happening in moments like that because instinct takes over completely.
“When the game ended, I barely even remembered the play because you don’t have time to process it.
“During the play, it was all about seeing the opening, and you don’t think about who’s in front of you or behind you – you just focus on scoring.
“When you see the ball go in… honestly, it’s an incredible feeling,” he concluded.
- Swapnil
Monday, 12 January 2026
Sunday, 11 January 2026
Tuesday, 28 October 2025
Monday, 27 October 2025
Sunday, 26 October 2025
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
Monday, 12 May 2025
FC BARCELONA RAGES OVER REAL REAL MADRID VAR ROOM 'THANK GOODNESS' REMARK
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| FC Barcelona fans and pundits that cover the club have been left furious by an audio recording from the VAR room made during Sunday's 4-3 win over bitter rival Real Madrid in El Clasico |
FC Barcelona, its fans, and pundits that cover the club have been left furious by an audio recording from the VAR room made during Sunday's 4-3 win over bitter rival Real Madrid in El Clasico.
The Catalans went into the latest addition of the world’s biggest derby crestfallen after Tuesday’s painful Champions League semifinal second leg exit to Inter Milan.
Once more, Hansi Flick’s young side went 2-0 down early, but managed to come back to lead the tie for the first time 3-2 ahead of Inter goals in the 93rd and 99th minute which sunk hopes of an impressive quadruple trophy haul.
Barca had little time to dust itself off, and prepare for a fourth 2024/2025 showdown with its arch nemesis in Montjuic at the weekend.
There were doubts leading up to kick off as to whether Barca would be emotionally drained and also lacking physically thanks to a gruelling 120 minutes of play at the San Siro.
True to form, they once again allowed a powerful opposition to go 2-0 goals clear through a brace from Kylian Mbappe on this occasion.
Thankfully for Culers, Barca roared back to overturn that deficit and lead 4-2 come half time. Because Madrid only managed to pull another goal back, the home team ran out victors and now harbor a seven-point advantage at the La Liga summit with three games left to run..
As is often the case, however, the latest of four clashes between the Spanish football behemoths wasn’t allowed to pass without incident.
Lamine Yamal appeared to have been fouled by Dani Ceballos on the move that resulted in the second of Mbappe’s three goals but nothing was called, and Barca also didn’t get awarded a penalty when it appeared Aurelien Tchouameni had handled the ball in his own penalty box.
"There you have the images, it’s a shot on goal. We don’t have many more powerful cameras," said VAR referee Juan Martinez Munuera, as explained by SPORT .
As shown by audio recordings, referee Hernandez Hernandez made a decision and then commented: "For me [Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut] Courtois is behind. Give it one more frame, that’s where the impact occurs, [with] the arm down. For me it's not a penalty, Juan."
Yet it is a remark in relation to a third incident that has Barca, Culers, and pundits that cover the club in a huff.
Fermin Lopez handled the ball on his way to smash home what could have been a fifth goal for the Blaugrana across the afternoon, and the player himself later admitted that he had done so.
Yet it is the fact that Munuera used the Spanish expression “menos mal”, translated as something close to “thank goodness” in English, to describe the development that has upset many.
“Listen to me Alex, we just detected a hand, okay? Come and see it, please”, you can hear in an audio recording from the VAR room, before the addition of “thank goodness” when it seems it’s been realized that Fermin had handled the ball on his way to beat Courtois.
FC Barcelona “should demand an explanation”
In a week that Barca and figures including President Joan Laporta returned from Milan complaining that bad refereeing had cost them the chance to reach the UCL final for the first time since 2015, at least their rage will not be as seething given they came out on the winning side this time round.
According to SPORT journalist Toni Juanmarti, however, FC Barcelona should still “demand an explanation” from Spanish soccer officials as to why the remark was made.
- Tom Sanderson
Sunday, 11 May 2025
Monday, 13 January 2025
Sunday, 27 October 2024
REAL MADRID BOSS ANCELOTTI SLAMS BARCELONA CELEBRATIONS IN CLASICO ROUT
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy with how Barcelona's bench celebrated their fourth goal after seeing his side beaten 4-0 in Saturday's Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Robert Lewandowski scored twice, with Lamine Yamal and Raphinha also finding the net as Barça ended Madrid's 42-game unbeaten streak in LaLiga and moved six points clear of them at the top of the table.
The celebrations after the fourth goal, Raphinha's 10th of the campaign, spilled in front of the Madrid bench with Ancelotti confronting Barça coach Hansi Flick. Ancelotti, though, said his issue was with the behaviour of one of Flick's assistants.
"[The problem] was with the assistant, not with Flick," Ancelotti said in his postgame news conference when asked to clear up what had happened. "The assistant was not a gentleman with the way he celebrated in front of bench. And Flick agreed with us."
Asked about the incident in his news conference, Flick said: "I didn't see it. I just spoke with Carlo and it was something ... it's normal in this situation, when you celebrate a goal maybe it's not ... we're old enough to speak about that."
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| Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy with Barcelona's celebrations for their fourth goal against Real Madrid. OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images |
Madrid had won the past four Clásicos in all competitions and avoiding defeat here would have seen them match Barça's LaLiga record 43-game unbeaten streak.
However, following a goalless first half, they collapsed after the break.
Lewandowski scored twice in three minutes to take his tally to 17 for the campaign in all competitions. Then Yamal, becoming the youngest Clásico scorer at 17, and Raphinha completed the rout.
"Until the goal, it was an even game," Ancelotti said. "We had chances and could have scored, but we weren't clinical. When they score, it saps some energy from you and it becomes another game. They did a lot of damage on the counter.
"I liked the first half, we have to follow that line. We don't have to throw everything away, we just have to forget the last 30 minutes. We can't give up, we just have to learn. We came out of the last defeat well against Atlético Madrid last season and we have to do the same. I am certain we will do better."
It proved a tough introduction to the Clásico for Kylian Mbappé, who had two goals ruled out for offside and missed a slew of chances.
In total, Mbappé was caught offside eight times -- tied for most in a LaLiga game in the past 15 seasons -- as Los Blancos, who had 12 offside calls in total, struggled to get in behind Barça's high line.
"We took risks with his position," Ancelotti added of Mbappé's performance. "They have a high line and due to fine margins we have not been able to take advantage of it. He has also had three or four chances and has not taken them when we need a little more.
"The result doesn't reflect what happened on pitch. Barça go ahead and then the confidence that came from that changed the game. We took risks and they're a team in form who were dangerous on the break. The defeat worries me, but we have to pick ourselves up quickly. We have to keep fighting. We're not going to be that far away this season from what we did last season."
The result capped a remarkable week for Barça, coming just four days after they demolished Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League.
Under Flick they have now won 12 of 14 games in all competitions, but the German coach refused to get carried away.
"We start the journey and we're doing really well," he said. "Like I always say, we have to make things better and we do it also, but today was not easy. We keep going with our idea, we have a flow at the moment and we have to keep going.
"I've always said I'm really happy to work for Barça and also to live in Barcelona. It's an amazing job, it's a new part of my life and it feels really good. Today we made a fantastic match and I'm really proud about the team. And how we play is very important as well.
"This will give the players more confidence. The celebration in the dressing room was good to see. Now we have a recovery day, then I give the players two days off and after the focus is on Espanyol next weekend."
- Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent
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