Most teams in the world do not have the luxury of unlimited funds to buy any player they want like Barcelona, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City or Real Madrid do. Because of the gargantuan gaps between the haves and have-nots, certain teams are forced to play a historically unattractive way to be able to still […]

The worst kept secret this season has been Jose Mourinho and Chelsea's pursuit of Atletico Madrid’s star striker Diego Costa. Reports have linked the Brazilian-born forward to the London club since before the January transfer window. The main reason Costa hasn’t moved sooner is because his loss would have been catastrophic to Atletico Madrid’s current season. […]

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has repeated time and time again that his team lives "game by game.” That has been the Argentine’s philosophy since he took over leadership of the club two years ago. Every day, Los Colchoneros train for an intense 45 minutes with Simeone overseeing the entire process, and they train the […]

(For US viewers: Atletico Madrid v. Barcelona will be shown LIVE on Saturday, January 11th at 2pm EST on beINSPORT) For the first time in recent history, there’s a fixture on the La Liga schedule worth watching other than 'El Clasico'. Atletico Madrid v. Barcelona won’t rival the global television ratings produced by the bi-annual El Clasicos, […]

The madness of the January transfer window is about to begin and clubs are already being linked with moves to improve their squads. Most experts would agree that Manchester United is the club that has the largest holes to fill. The club’s failures to add quality to its midfield/defense during the summer transfer window is […]

When the final whistle sounded at Vicente Calderón Stadium on Saturday, the celebrations spread throughout the crowd of 49,000 because for the first time in 55 weeks league-leading Barcelona had been knocked off the summit of La Liga by Atletico Madrid…technically. The Atleti had assumed first place in the Spanish Primera Division by defeating a […]

Over the past ten seasons, Barcelona and Real Madrid have finished first and second in La Liga eight times. During that time, only two clubs have been able to break through the Spanish giants’ dominance of the Primera Division: Valencia (who finished in first place in 2003/04) and Villarreal (who were runners-up in 2007/08). The past […]

Heading into their Super Sunday match at Stamford Bridge, David Silva and Sergio Aguero are in good form and that usually bodes well for Manchester City. In the past, the Spanish midfielder and Argentine striker have combined to be a dangerous partnership. Last season, both players endured injuries, battled fatigue from international duty and adjusted […]

Chicago ended the year as potentially the best non-playoff team in MLS. They caught "fire" and had a winning record for the final third of the season, almost stealing the tenth playoff spot from New York. The same team that set the MLS record for draws in a season (which they tied with NY) gave […]

There was a time on Saturday night when Lionel Messi actually became frustrated with himself and his teammates. There was a time on Saturday night when Xavi Hernández could not find the killer pass through the hard-working, organized defense. There was a time on Saturday night when Gerard Piqué was absolutely skinned alive by an […]

Round 23 of 38 might be a little too early to mention relegation six-pointers, but with teams twelfth to twentieth a within a slender five points of each other and the gap widening between these teams and the first eleven of La Liga, a three-point win should not be underestimated as time snowballs downward to […]

Two of the most active clubs in the January transfer window meet together this weekend in an Andalucian derby at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán between Sevilla and Málaga. Málaga and new owner Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani scoured the world in January for bright, young talents and seasoned veterans (or washed-up former stars depending on […]

The headlines emanating from Bilbao have had little to do with Athletic's white-hot form, as the rumors swirling around Fernando Llorente's future destination have blanketed this historic club. Tottenham Hotspur has been the main culprit of the Llorente saga, originally offering €30 million, but after Athletic rejected the bid, they upped the ante to an […]

Espanyol's surprising start has not only stretched to this juncture of the season but has also improved from a club that only garnered points at home to a team that can win the tough matches away from home. Impressively winning at Sevilla and Getafe in their last two games have shown that a top-six finish […]

Maybe Florentino Pérez might start to appreciate Gonzalo Higuaín now. The man that Pérez wanted to offload since he returned for his second stint as Real president sits in the stands because he is recovering from surgery that repaired a herniated lumbar disc in his back, and José Mourinho has not developed a successful system […]