Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani could have done anything with his time, and with all of his responsibilities on his docket, president of a football club would seem to be near the bottom of his list. Born from Qatari royalty, the Sheikh billionaire currently sits on the Board of Directors of […]

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 […]

La Liga officially begins the second half of its season this weekend, and FC Barcelona has continued its stellar form with a staggering fifty-two points out of a possible fifty-seven points, a Spanish record for the opening half of any campaign. Despite this extended run of breathtaking football, Barça only has a four point lead […]

Back from personal vacation, this weekend's round of matches is the last one of the 2010 calendar year before the players go on their own vacations during the La Liga winter break. To top off the end of 2010, El Derbi Barceloní headlines the round as FC Barcelona travels to the south of the city […]

Now that the El Clásico tornado has swept through Spain, leaving bits of Real Madrid debris in its wake, everyone can take a breath and move on with the rest of the season. Real must pick up the pieces and stay in the present rather than dwell on the 5-0 beating that Barcelona handed them […]

Under trainer Mauricio Pochettino, Espanyol has gone through one of these hot streaks in every season he has managed the club. After the club fired José Manuel Esnal "Mané" in the middle of the 2008-09 season, they hired Mauricio Pochettino to get out of the relegation zone. As late as Jornada 30 in that season, […]

For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness. As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed […]

The Valencian Derby between Villarreal and Valencia jumps out as the headline match of the weekend in La Liga. Since Villarreal rose to La Liga for the first time in 1998, their record at home against their neighbors Valencia is an impressive 7-2-2, including winning five of their last six meetings. While Villarreal lost 3-1 […]

A select few matches each season define the league in terms of pecking order and/or overall footballing ability. Obviously, the two editions of El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona usually determine the fate of La Liga's crown. More specifically, in the past five seasons, the team that won the most points in El Clásico […]

The highlight match of the weekend will occur at the Camp Nou, where Villarreal will want to display their résumé as a legitimate threat to a dominion currently ruled by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. After a topsy-turvy month of results where they looked somewhat hapless in away fixtures at Hércules and Sporting Gijón in […]

In Atlético Madrid's 1-2 win in the UEFA Europa League over Rosenborg in Norway on Thursday, Rosenborg enjoyed long spells of dominance over their Spanish opponents but could not convert more than once on their many scoring opportunities. Atlético capitalized on two of their only three chances in the match and escaped with a valuable […]

UEFA Champions League While Real Madrid and Barcelona can earn their spots into the knockout round with wins against AC Milan and FC København, respectively, and will likely qualify even without victories in Matchday 4, Valencia does not have that margin of error as they play their reverse fixture against Rangers on Tuesday night. Ever […]