MADRID, Jan. 12: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona play the second "Clasico" of the season when they meet in the first semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Wednesday night.
Both teams flew out on Monday, with Barcelona duo Ferran Torres and Pedri set to join their team-mates later after having to wait for the results of a PCR test for COVID-19.
The first semifinal of the Super Cup pits the winners of last season's Copa del Rey (Barca) against the side that finished second in La Liga (Madrid), with Real Madrid clear favorites to progress to the final after winning 2-1 in the Camp Nou earlier this season.
Carlo Ancelotti's men travel to Riyadh with a five-point lead at the top of La Liga, while they have a 17-point gap over Barca after last weekend's results that saw Madrid beat Valencia 1-1, while Barca was held 1-1 in Granada.
In theory, Barca coach Xavi Hernandez will be able to welcome back Pedri and Ansu Fati on Wednesday night, although neither is likely to start after struggling with injuries all season. Ferran Torres could also make his Barca debut after some financial maneuvering saw Samuel Umtiti sign a new contract on lower wages on Monday, lowering the club's wage ceiling to allow Torres to be registered.
However, with the Spain international only just recovering from an ankle injury that has sidelined him since October, he too is unlikely to start.
Xavi is definitely without Eric Garcia, Sergi Roberto and Martin Braithwaite through injury, while Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo have both traveled but are doubts after picking up injuries last week in the Copa del Rey. Araujo has trained, but was shown with his arm in a sling after needing an operation on two broken bones in his hand.
Real Madrid has no such problems, although Gareth Bale's back injury has prevented him from traveling, and Ancelotti will be at full strength for Wednesday night, with Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema (who have 30 goals between them in La Liga) leading their attack.
The winner on Wednesday will play either Atletico Madrid or Athletic Bilbao, who meet on Thursday, although Athletic midfielder Raul Garcia on Monday made his thoughts clear about playing the tournament thousands of miles from home.
"I can't see any reason to play a competition from our country over there. There is nothing more to say, people don't think about the fans anymore," commented the veteran in a press conference.
MADRID, Jan. 9: Real Madrid recovered from last weekend's defeat to Getafe with a comfortable 4-1 win at home to Valencia.
Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr both scored twice as the duo again showed their importance to their side against a rival that disappointed once again in the Bernabeu.
Benzema opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Casemiro was controversially adjudged to have been brought down after a slight contact. The striker hit a powerful shot into the corner of the net.
Vinicius made it 2-0 10 minutes into the second half after skipping through some half-hearted challenges and the Brazilian added a third after Asensio's shot was parried into his path.
Goncalo Guedes pulled a goal back after Thibaut Courtois had blocked his initial penalty, but there was still time for Benzema to add his second of the night two minutes from time.
Luuk de Jong's second goal in two games looked as if it was going to give Barca a 1-0 win away to Granada in what ended up being a bad-tempered game.
The big striker headed home a Dani Alves cross in the 57th minute, after seeing another header ruled out for a narrow offside before halftime.
Barca youngster Gavi was sent off for two yellow cards in the 78th minute and after pressing hard for an equalizer, Granada claimed a point when Antonio Puerta fired a left-foot shot into the corner of the net following a corner.
Mikel Oyarzabal's 13th minute goal ended Real Sociedad's six-game run without a win as they beat a disappointing Celta Vigo 1-0 in the Reale Arena. Aritz Elustondo had a second effort for the home side ruled out for a tight offside.
Goals from Roberto Soldado and a late finish from Jose Luis Morales gave bottom of the table Levante their first win of the season in a game where Levante keeper Aitor Fernandez saw a penalty and Fer Nino had a goal ruled out for Mallorca with the score 1-0.
Sunday's games see Atletico Madrid visit Villarreal, while second place Sevilla have to overcome a host of absences when they entertain Getafe.
MADRID, Nov. 22: Real Madrid moved to the top of LaLiga on Sunday after they won away to Granada, while Real Sociedad were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Valencia.
Real Madrid cruised to an easy 4-1 win in Granada in a game where the result was rarely in doubt.
Real Madrid had won their last 12 meetings with Sunday's rivals and were quickly on the way to win the 13th after Marco Asensio put them ahead in the 19th minute and Nacho Fernandez doubled their lead six minutes later.
Luis Suarez pulled a goal back for the home side before the break, before Vinicius Jr scored a tap-in 10 minutes into the second half. Granada were then reduced to 10 men after Monchu was shown a direct red card for a bad challenge on the winger and Granada coach Robert Moreno was also sent off for his protests before Ferland Mendy's excellent goal ended the rout.
In the last game of the day, Real Sociedad were unable to get past an organized Valencia side who were willing to adopt underhand tactics, such as time-wasting and a continued series of niggling fouls to take something from the game.
Real Sociedad ended up with 10 players after Aritz Elustondo was sent off for reacting after being twice targeted by Valencia duo Maxi Gomez and Daniel Wass.
Betis took the fast track to an easy 3-0 win away to Elche, who have now gone six games without a win and are increasingly looking like firm relegation candidates.
Juanmi put Betis ahead in the 12th minute, before Willian Jose's penalty made it 2-0 on 24 minutes and Nabil Fekir added a third just three minutes later.
Hector Bellerin was sent off for the first time in his career in the second half, but by then the game was won and Elche sacked coach Fran Escriba less than an hour after the final whistle.
Getafe seem to be recovering under Quique Sanchez Flores and claimed their second win of the season with a 4-0 thrashing of Cadiz. Mathias Oliveira opened the scoring in the seventh minute before the floodgates opened in the last half-hour with Jorge Cuanca, Enes Unal and Jaime Mata all getting their names on the scoresheet.
On Saturday, Memphis Depay's controversial penalty at the start of the second half was enough to give Xavi Hernandez a 1-0 win over Espanyol in his debut as FC Barcelona coach.
Memphis scored from the spot after Leandro Cabrera was penalized for bringing him down although TV images showed the defender appeared to have got the ball.
Xavi started with three teenagers in his side and in the first half, Barca produced a more aggressive style of play than under Ronald Koeman.
However, the second half showed he has a lot of work to do and Espanyol should have taken at least a point with Raul de Tomas twice hitting the post, while Landry Dimata missed a header that looked easier to score after an excellent cross from Wu Lei.
Sevilla dropped two points at home to a recovering Alaves and Sevilla can be grateful for Ivan Rakitic's 91st-minute equalizer after Victor Laguardia's early goal and a 51st-minute penalty from Joselu had looked as if they were going to give Alaves an important win.
Lucas Ocampos scored Sevilla's opener in the 37th minute and Munir almost sneaked a late winner only to be denied by Alaves keeper Fernando Pacheco.
Felipe's 87th-minute header saw Atletico Madrid grind out a 1-0 win at home to Osasuna, who hardly suffered in the game before the central defender's decisive header.
Saturday kicked off with Celta Vigo drawing 1-1 at home to Villarreal, who have now drawn seven games this season.
Alberto Moreno put Villarreal ahead in the 27th minute, tapping in after a terrible mistake from Celta keeper Mathias Dituro, and Brais Mendez leveled for Celta with 15 minutes left to play after Villarreal keeper Geronimo Rulli failed to hold a shot from outside of the area.
Levante remain winless all season after their 0-0 draw at home to Athletic Club on Friday night in a rain-soaked Ciudad de Valencia Stadium.
MADRID, Oct. 28: Real Madrid moved to the top of La Liga on goal difference from Sevilla, Real Betis and Real Sociedad after being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Osasuna on Wednesday night.
In the first 45 minutes, Real Madrid were limited by a serious defensive display by Osasuna's back five, and an insistence on constantly looking for Vinicius Jr as their main attacking outlet.
Jon Moncayola hit the post for Osasuna four minutes after the restart after good work from Chimy Avila, while at the other end, Karim Benzema smacked a curling shot against the woodwork.
Real Madrid continued to attack down the wings in the second half, but every ball they sent into the Osasuna penalty area was repelled by the visitors' rock-solid defense, and although Marcelo and Casemiro both went close in the final minutes, Osasuna claimed a point to show their current sixth place is no fluke.
Real Sociedad will return to the top if they take a point from their visit to Celta Vigo on Thursday.
FC Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman was sacked after his side lost 1-0 away to Rayo Vallecano.
Radamel Falcao's 30th minute goal separated the two sides as Barca tried but failed to find an equalizer in the second half, with Memphis Depay seeing a 71st minute penalty well saved by Rayo keeper Stole Dimitrievski, who also claimed the rebound.
Sergio Aguero, Gavi and Luuk de Jong all went close for Barca, but Koeman's side failed to find an equalizer and have not won any of their last five away games this season.
Sevilla thought that Lucas Ocampos had scored a late winner to overturn Antonio Sanchez's first-half opener for Real Mallorca.
However, his strike was ruled offside and the two teams shared the points with Erik Lamela's powerful shot leveling for Sevilla 15 minutes from time.
Real Betis are also right in the battle for the top four after thrashing Valencia 4-1. Borja Iglesias put Betis 2-0 ahead, and although Gabriel Paulista's 39th minute goal gave Valencia brief hope, second-half strikes from German Pezzella and Juanmi rounded off a comfortable win for Betis.
Valencia have taken just three points from their last seven matches, and with games against Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad on the horizon, Jose Bordalas needs to see a rapid improvement.
Atletico and Real Sociedad both play on Thursday, while Tuesday saw Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao draw 1-1, while Alaves beat Elche 1-0 and Villarreal and Cadiz drew 3-3.
MADRID, Oct. 4: Both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona go into the international break with problems after they both suffered defeats in La Liga over the weekend.
Recently promoted Espanyol - for whom Chinese striker Wu Lei played the last 25 minutes - stunned Real Madrid 2-1 on Sunday afternoon, highlighting Los Blancos' defensive problems.
Raul de Tomas' near-post finish and Aleix Vidal's excellent individual goal put Espanyol 2-0 up. Karim Benzema gave Madrid hope with his ninth goal of the season in the 71st minute but there were to be no further goals.
The defeat follows a goalless draw against Villarreal and a shock Champions League loss to Sheriff Tiraspol, and means Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti faces a difficult couple of weeks.
Ronald Koeman is clinging on to his job at FC Barcelona after his side suffered a painful defeat away to Atletico Madrid on Saturday night.
Former Barca striker Luis Suarez was Koeman's tormenter-in-chief, setting up Thomas Lemar for Atletico's opener midway through the first half and then doubling their lead just before half-time as Barca made significant errors in defense.
Barca never really looked like getting back on level terms, despite Ansu Fati being brought into the action midway through the second half, although surprise declarations from Barca president Joan Laporta look to have assured Koeman's short-term future when many expected him to be sacked.
Villarreal's season continues to build thanks to a 2-0 win at home to Real Betis thanks to two goals from Dutch winger Arnaut Danjuma, who put his side ahead on the stroke of half-time and confirmed the win with his second of the game with 20 minutes left to play.
Real Sociedad are third in the table, level on points with Atletico and Real Madrid, but missed the chance to go top after drawing 1-1 at home to Getafe, who took their first point of the season thanks to Sandro Ramirez's first-half goal, which was canceled out by Mikel Oyarzabal's 68th minute goal.
Sevilla missed the chance to move level with Real Madrid, Atletico and Real Sociedad when they lost 1-0 away to struggling Granada. Ruben Rochina's powerful 24th minute shot and a series of saves from Granada keeper Luis Maximiano helped Robert Moreno's side to their first win of the season and probably saved the coach's job, at least for the short term.
Sevilla ended up with 10 men after Diego Carlos was sent off for using his elbow on Granada striker Luis Suarez.
Manu Sanchez's diving header in injury-time gave Osasuna a 1-0 win at home to Rayo Vallecano to end the visitors' five-game unbeaten run.
Angel's 74th minute goal got Real Mallorca back to winning ways at the expense of Levante, who have still to win this campaign.
Cadiz coach Alvaro Cervera left out seven first-team players who had gone partying after last weekend's defeat to Rayo Vallecano, and his much-changed side held on for a 0-0 draw at home to Valencia.
Valencia dominated the game with 68 percent possession and 16 shots against just two from Cadiz, but were unable to stop their run of games without a win extending to four.
Bernadetto's goal early in the second half got Elche back on track with a 1-0 win at home to Celta Vigo, who saw how Iago Aspas's goal in the last minute ruled out for handball.
Friday night saw Raul Garcia's 44th minute header gave Athletic Bilbao a 1-0 win at home to Alaves on a night that saw Athletic striker Inaki Williams make a record 203rd consecutive La Liga appearance.
Garcia had earlier seen a penalty saved, but was in the right place to nod home Inigo Lekue's header on the stroke of half-time.
MADRID, Oct. 4: Both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona go into the international break with problems after they both suffered defeats in La Liga over the weekend.
Recently promoted Espanyol - for whom Chinese striker Wu Lei played the last 25 minutes - stunned Real Madrid 2-1 on Sunday afternoon, highlighting Los Blancos' defensive problems.
Raul de Tomas' near-post finish and Aleix Vidal's excellent individual goal put Espanyol 2-0 up. Karim Benzema gave Madrid hope with his ninth goal of the season in the 71st minute but there were to be no further goals.
The defeat follows a goalless draw against Villarreal and a shock Champions League loss to Sheriff Tiraspol, and means Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti faces a difficult couple of weeks.
Ronald Koeman is clinging on to his job at FC Barcelona after his side suffered a painful defeat away to Atletico Madrid on Saturday night.
Former Barca striker Luis Suarez was Koeman's tormenter-in-chief, setting up Thomas Lemar for Atletico's opener midway through the first half and then doubling their lead just before half-time as Barca made significant errors in defense.
Barca never really looked like getting back on level terms, despite Ansu Fati being brought into the action midway through the second half, although surprise declarations from Barca president Joan Laporta look to have assured Koeman's short-term future when many expected him to be sacked.
Villarreal's season continues to build thanks to a 2-0 win at home to Real Betis thanks to two goals from Dutch winger Arnaut Danjuma, who put his side ahead on the stroke of half-time and confirmed the win with his second of the game with 20 minutes left to play.
Real Sociedad are third in the table, level on points with Atletico and Real Madrid, but missed the chance to go top after drawing 1-1 at home to Getafe, who took their first point of the season thanks to Sandro Ramirez's first-half goal, which was canceled out by Mikel Oyarzabal's 68th minute goal.
Sevilla missed the chance to move level with Real Madrid, Atletico and Real Sociedad when they lost 1-0 away to struggling Granada. Ruben Rochina's powerful 24th minute shot and a series of saves from Granada keeper Luis Maximiano helped Robert Moreno's side to their first win of the season and probably saved the coach's job, at least for the short term.
Sevilla ended up with 10 men after Diego Carlos was sent off for using his elbow on Granada striker Luis Suarez.
Manu Sanchez's diving header in injury-time gave Osasuna a 1-0 win at home to Rayo Vallecano to end the visitors' five-game unbeaten run.
Angel's 74th minute goal got Real Mallorca back to winning ways at the expense of Levante, who have still to win this campaign.
Cadiz coach Alvaro Cervera left out seven first-team players who had gone partying after last weekend's defeat to Rayo Vallecano, and his much-changed side held on for a 0-0 draw at home to Valencia.
Valencia dominated the game with 68 percent possession and 16 shots against just two from Cadiz, but were unable to stop their run of games without a win extending to four.
Bernadetto's goal early in the second half got Elche back on track with a 1-0 win at home to Celta Vigo, who saw how Iago Aspas's goal in the last minute ruled out for handball.
Friday night saw Raul Garcia's 44th minute header gave Athletic Bilbao a 1-0 win at home to Alaves on a night that saw Athletic striker Inaki Williams make a record 203rd consecutive La Liga appearance.
Garcia had earlier seen a penalty saved, but was in the right place to nod home Inigo Lekue's header on the stroke of half-time.
MADRID, Aug. 23: Real Madrid were held to a 3-3 draw away to Levante on Sunday in a chaotic and entertaining game in Valencia, which highlighted that Carlo Ancelotti's side needs to tighten up in defense.
Gareth Bale opened the scoring for Madrid in the fifth minute after good work from Karim Benzema, but Levante turned things around at the start of the second half thanks to Roger Marti, whose shot had enough power to beat Thibaut Courtois, and Jose Campana, who scored an excellent volley in the 55th minute.
Vinicius Jr equalized in the 74th minute, but the Real Madrid defense went missing four minutes later to allow Rober Pier to score from close range after a free-kick.
There was still time for more drama as Vinicius' second of the game made it 3-3 with five minutes left and Levante keeper Aitor Fernandez was sent off in the 87th minute, meaning defender Ruben Vezo had to go in goal for the last three minutes and six minutes of injury time.
Vezo may have expected Real Madrid to lay siege to his goal, but the defender was relatively untroubled in those nine minutes.
Atletico Madrid made it two wins from two games but found it harder than expected against Elche in the first game with fans back in the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium since March 2020.
New Atletico signing Rodrigo de Paul was decisive in the win, after gaining possession in the middle of the pitch and then setting Angel Correa up to score the game's only goal.
Correa has scored all three of Atletico's goals in the new season, once again justifying Diego Simeone's decision to start him ahead of Luis Suarez.
Memphis Depay's first goal for FC Barcelona saved a point for his side after they had been outplayed for 70 minutes by Athletic Club Bilbao on Saturday.
The first half saw Athletic take the game to Barca, with Oihan Sancet hitting the Barca bar, before Gerard Pique limped off for Barca with a calf injury.
Araujo miraculously cleared off the line from Alex Berenguer in the first minute the second half, but Athletic got their reward when Inigo Martinez headed in from a corner.
Frenkie de Jong came into the game in the last 20 minutes, and after hitting the bar, his pass set up Memphis for a 76th-minute equalizer, although in the last minute of the game Barca were reduced to 10 men when Eric Garcia was sent off for a professional foul for bringing down Nico Williams when the Athletic Club forward was lean through on goal.
Real Sociedad claimed their first win of the season thanks to Mikel Oyarzabal's second-half penalty which gave them a win they just about deserved against a well-drilled Rayo Vallecano.
Chinese striker Wu Lei had a last-minute "goal" ruled out for handball as Espanyol drew 0-0 at home to Villarreal, while there was also late drama in the 1-1 draw between Granada and Valencia as Granada had what they thought was a winning goal ruled out for offside in injury time.
Granada took the lead in the 16th minute through Luis Suarez, with Valencia leveling thanks to a Carlos Soler penalty in the 88th minute. Meanwhile, Valencia striker Maxi Gomez had to spend Saturday night in hospital after a clash of heads.
Fer Nino celebrated his debut at Mallorca after joining on loan from Villarreal, with an 80th-minute goal that gave his side a 1-0 win away to Alaves. who played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after defender Ruben Duarte's red card.
The round of games began on Friday night as Betis and Cadiz drew 1-1.
Monday sees the last two games of matchday two with Getafe entertaining Sevilla, while Osasuna are at home to Celta Vigo.
