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Icons: Lionel Messi

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Let's take a closer look at Lionel Messi.  The Argentian player is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever. How did his career develop? What were his best moments? Keep reading for the story of a football legend. Quick summary Messi has won seven Ballon d'Or awards and six European Golden Shoes. In 2020, he was named to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team. Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona.  With the Spanish giants,  he won a club-record 35 trophies. This included ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and four Champions Leagues. He is known for being a prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker. Records He holds the records for most goals in La Liga, a La Liga and European league season, most hat-tricks in La Liga and the Champions League, and most assists in La Liga, a La Liga season and the Copa América. He also holds the record for most international goals by a South American. Messi has scored over 7

Spain: Girona look the real deal

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Barcelona 2-4 Girona Barcelona finished the weekend in fourth place in the La Liga table and are now seven points off the top thanks to a painful 4-2 loss. Throughout this match, Girona dominated and made a statement about their title credentials as they convincingly won this Catalan derby.  Highlights Check out the highlights from the match in the video below.  FC BARCELONA 2 vs 4 GIRONA | LALIGA 2023/24 MD16 (youtube.com) The opening 45 minutes were just as wild and entertaining as any neutral could hope for, with both teams playing really well with the ball and taking big risks in possession that left them extremely vulnerable at the back. The home side started as the better side and could have taken the lead within the first 10 minutes. However, one bad pass in midfield allowed Girona to counter-attack and Viktor Tsigankov gave Artem Dovbyk an easy tap-in to put the visitors in front.  The 2023 La Liga winners answered quickly after a great corner taken by Raphinha found Rober

Spain: Real Madrid are La Liga champions

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Real Madrid are La Liga champions once again.  They wrapped up the title by defeating Cadiz 3-0 at the Bernabeu before they watched Barcelona lose 4-2 at Girona. Ultimately, this has been an impressively dominant campaign for Carlo Ancelotti's men. They have lost just once all season, at local rivals Atletico Madrid in September, and are also unbeaten in their last 28 league games. Against Cadiz, Brahim Diaz starred for Real Madrid. The former Manchester City winger scored an impressive goal by firing into the top corner from just inside the box in the 51st minute. S few minutes later, Jude Bellingham doubled Real's lead by ghosting into the box and poking home from close range.  Joselu then sealed a comfortable victory in added time with a tap-in. Nacho raced through into the box and squared the ball for his teammate to finish with ease. Another excellent performance. When the match finished, they were only a few hours away from being champions officially. You can watch

Icons: Sergio Ramos

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It's time to explore another legendary footballer.  Sergio Ramos is a Spanish professional footballer renowned as one of the greatest defenders ever.  Author - Peter Grainger from GMCR Football Ramos in action for Real Madrid against local rivals. Photo credit -  Jan S0L0 | Flickr Known for his tackling prowess, aerial strength, leadership, and an impressive goalscoring record for a defender, he netted over 100 goals for Real Madrid. During his sixteen seasons at Real Madrid, he won multiple UEFA Champions League titles, as well as two UEFA European Championships and the 2010 FIFA World Cup with the Spanish national team. An overview of his club career Ramos was born in Seville and developed his skills in Sevilla’s youth academy. After two seasons with Sevilla's senior team, he made a high-profile move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2005. He became an integral part of the squad, winning 22 major honours, including five La Liga titles and four Champions League titles. Ramos

Football icons: Raúl

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Raúl González Blanco, known to most within football as Raúl, is considered one of the most important players in the history of Real Madrid. He is regarded as one of the greatest Spanish players of all time and also one of the best forwards ever. Key events in his career He started his career in the academy of the Atlético Madrid before later moving to Real Madrid's youth academy and played at its various levels. He signed professional terms in 1994. He spent 16 years of his career playing for Real Madrid and is the club's second all-time top goalscorer with 323 goals and has the most appearances in the history of the club, with 741. With Los Blancos, Raúl won six La Liga titles, three UEFA Champions League titles, scoring in two finals, four Supercopa de España titles, one UEFA Super Cup and two Intercontinental Cups.  Throughout his time in Madrid, he would have played with some of their greatest ever players. This includes the likes of Zidane, Roberto Carlos, David Beck

Spain: Isco has contract cancelled

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There has been an interesting development with of La Liga's most decorated players. Sevilla have reached an agreement to terminate Isco's contract, just four months after signing the former Spain midfielder on a free transfer. He joined Sevilla on a two-year deal in August after long and successful spell with La Liga rivals Real Madrid. He signed from Malaga in 2013 and helped Real win the Champions League five times and La Liga three times. However, he has now been released after just 19 games for Sevilla, scoring once and claiming three assists. It will be certainly interesting to see where he ends up next. Could a Premier League club sign him? There will certainly be plenty of interest in signing a player with som much experience at the highest level of football. One Sevilla fan told us: "I'm always worried about these kind of transfers. When a player has been at a club like Real Madrid for so long, it can be very difficult to integrate into another side. This h

La Liga: Sevilla 1 - 1 Barcelona

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Barcelona failed to find a win that would have taken them up to fourth place in La Liga. Sevilla took the lead after Ivan Rakitic rolled the ball into the area for Alejandro Gomez's first-time finish. Ronald Araujo's header levelled before half-time and despite Jules Kounde being sent off for throwing the ball at Jordi Alba, Barca could not breakthrough. You can watch the highlights in the video below. Xavi's side do move up one spot to seventh in La Liga. Second-placed Sevilla failed to make up ground on league leaders Real Madrid and are now five points adrift of Carlo Ancelotti's men. Already looking ahead to 2022 after a torrid 2021 Everyone associated with Barcelona will be hoping that 2022 brings better fortunes after losing superstar Lionel Messi on a free transfer, sacking manager Ronald Koeman and being knocked out of the Champions League group stage this year. Reports from around Europe seem to suggest that they have agreed a deal to sign Ferran Torres from

La Liga news: Ronald Koeman issues statement on Barcelona future

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Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman caused more controversy after he refused to answer questions before walking out of a press conference The under-pressure Barca head coach delivered a short, pre-prepared statement before leaving. This pressure recently increased after a poor Barca performance against Granada CF. Koeman's statement in full Hello everyone. The club with me as coach is in a situation of rebuilding. The financial situation of the club is connected to the sporting activities and vice versa. This means we as a team have to rebuild the team without being able to make any big financial investments. This needs time. The young talent today could be the next big world stars in just a few years. To rebuild this team, young players will be given opportunities like Xavi and Iniesta had in their day. But we must ask for patience. Achieving a high ranking in La Liga is a great success. In the Champions League, we can't hope for miracles. The defeat by Bayern Munich last week

Spain: Athletic Bilbao win Copa del Rey

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Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Mallorca Athletic Bilbao won 4-2 on penalties Athletic Bilbao has finally ended their run of six successive Copa del Rey final defeats by earning a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Mallorca, after a 40-year wait for silverware.  The team clinched their 24th Copa del Rey title, their first since 1984. Alex Berenguer sealed the win in the shootout, with Athletic coming out on top with a 4-2 victory in Seville. This victory sparked jubilant scenes at the sold-out La Cartuja stadium, bringing a much-needed end to Athletic's recent painful run in the competition. The team had previously ost two finals in as many weeks in 2021. Mallorca, who are currently 15th in La Liga, took the lead in the 21st minute as Dani Rodriguez fired in a goal after Athletic failed to clear from a corner. More news and stories from across Spain Athletic, who are also pushing for a top-four La Liga finish under former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde, were denied an equalizer

Spain: Barcelona maintain perfect start to the season

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Girona 1 - 4 Barcelona Lamine Yamal netted twice as Barcelona continued their dominant start to the season with a commanding 4-1 victory away at Girona. The 17-year-old Spanish winger opened the scoring in the 30th minute, capitalising on a mistake by David Lopez deep in Girona's half, before expertly lifting the ball over goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. Yamal added his second just seven minutes later with a composed first-time strike from the edge of the box, following a rebound from Raphinha's free-kick. Click here for more La Liga news and stories Girona, who finished third last season, thought they had been awarded a penalty after Bryan Gil's header struck Inigo Martinez's arm, but the decision was overturned after a VAR review. Dani Olmo became the first player since Cesc Fabregas in 2011 to score in his first three league games for Barcelona, finding the net with a precise finish from a tight angle in the 47th minute to make it 3-0. Seventeen minutes later, midf

Deadline Day: Lot's going on at Tottenham

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Tottenham have announced two Deadline Day signings from Juventus. The Uruguay midfielder Bentancur joins for an initial fee of just under £16m. This fee could rise by £5m. Swedish winger Kulusevski joins on an 18-month loan for an £8.3m fee, with an option to buy for £29.2m. ✍️ We are delighted to announce the signing of Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus, subject to international clearance and a work permit. Welcome to Tottenham, Dejan! 🇸🇪 — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 31, 2022 More reaction One fan replied to Tottenham on Twitter: "Great signing, but need a Right Wing Back and a midfielder now." Another told us: "These are potentially two superb signings that can get us over the line in the race to finish 4th." This is Kulusevski's welcome video from the official Tottenham YouTube account. There's also a few players going the other way. All of this comes on the same day that a number of players have left the club. Their record signing Tan

La Liga: Lionel Messi's best moments at Barcelona

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Lionel Messi now plays for PSG. Very few people would have anticipated him ever leaving Barcelona but here we are. Just after the announcement of his departure, News Ball UK published this article looking at Messi's best ever moments at Barcelona.        His debut At 16 years, four months, and 23 days old, Messi made his first team debut when he came on in the 75th minute during a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto in November 2003. His career has been extraordinary. Let's take a look at some of his best moments.  April 18, 2007 Messi emulates fellow Diego Maradona with this amazing goal, ghosting through half of Getafe’s side while his teammates could only watch in awe. It was at this time when people started to talk about him being one of the world's best. How good is this goal? See Messi at his best by watching the video below. Some have argued that this is his best goal.  OTD in 2007 📅 Lionel Messi did his best Diego Maradona impression v Getafe 🐐 His best eve

Spain: Real Madrid held at Mallorca

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Mallorca 1 -  1 Real Madrid Kylian Mbappé made his La Liga debut as reigning champions Real Madrid were held to a draw by Mallorca on the opening day of the season. The French captain had already made a strong start at his new club, scoring in Wednesday's 2-0 UEFA Super Cup victory over Atalanta. However, the summer signing from Paris Saint-Germain was unable to find the net in his first domestic league appearance. Rodrygo put Carlo Ancelotti's side ahead with a superb goal, finishing off a clever backheel from Vinícius Júnior. More news from across Spain Latest stories from Real Madrid But Mallorca responded when Vedat Muriqi headed in Dani Rodríguez's cross to equalise. Madrid's defender, Ferland Mendy, was sent off in the final moments of injury time after a reckless challenge on Muriqi. Mbappé, PSG's all-time top scorer and a six-time Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner , had several opportunities for Madrid. He narrowly missed the target with one effort and forced g

Spain: Real Madrid move closer to La Liga title

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Real Sociedad 0 - 1 Real Madrid Arda Guler scored on his first La Liga start, helping Real Madrid move closer to securing the title with a win against Real Sociedad.  An important day for Real Madrid. More reaction coming up on https://t.co/Mu4Cn3wz9B https://t.co/aHAGzCmT3P — European Super Football (@ESFootballNews) April 27, 2024 Real Madrid's 19-year-old Turkish midfielder scored Madrid's first goal in the match, midway through the first half, by turning in a cross. Carlo Ancelotti made several changes after last weekend's victory in El Clasico, giving opportunities to other players. Real Sociedad started strongly but couldn't convert their dominance into goals, as they failed to breach Madrid's defense. Takefusa Kubo's attempt to equalize for Real Sociedad was denied by the offside flag, immediately after Guler's goal. The second half was less eventful, with both teams struggling to create chances. However, Real Madrid did enough to secure a vict

Transfer gossip and more: 30/12/21

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The January transfer window is approaching.  As expected, the number of rumours about the latest transfers have exploded. Let's have a look at the best of them. Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund will look to put together a deal to try to persuade Norway striker Erling Braut Haaland to stay with them. The 21-year-old's future at the club set to be decided by the end of February.  Bayern Munich are interested in signing Leeds United's Raphinha. Despite rumours suggesting otherwise, it has been reported that no agreement has yet been made and he could easily end up signing for Liverpool. Premier League Newcastle United hope to complete a deal to bring in Atletico Madrid and England right-back Kieran Trippier next week and, after an injury to Callum Wilson, they will also try to sign a forward over the next few weeks.  Chelsea have asked about the availability of France left-back Theo Hernandez, who AC Milan will not consider selling for less than 60m euros. Wolfsburg's Max

Spain: Barcelona stun Real Madrid

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Real Madrid 0 - 4 Barcelona Robert Lewandowski netted twice in just three minutes as La Liga leaders Barcelona swept aside Real Madrid in El Clasico, extending their lead over their fierce rivals to six points. Author - Mark Lee Real Madrid had been aiming to equal Barcelona’s league record of 43 consecutive unbeaten games, a milestone set between April 2017 and May 2018. However, those ambitions were shattered by a ruthless second-half performance from the visitors at the Bernabeu. After a goalless first half, Lewandowski broke the deadlock in the 54th minute, coolly slotting home from a precise through ball by Marc Casado. The Polish striker doubled Barcelona’s advantage moments later, heading Alejandro Balde’s pinpoint cross into the right corner. Lewandowski came close to securing a hat-trick, hitting the woodwork on one occasion and firing over from a promising position on another. Spanish teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, at just 17, added Barcelona’s third with a brilliant st

Spain: Real Madrid held by Vallecano

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Rayo Vallecano 1 - 1 Real Madrid Real Madrid dropped points against local rivals Rayo Vallecano to slow down their title push.  The match kicked off with Real Madrid looking sharp, taking an early lead as Joselu expertly converted Fede Valverde's pass. However, Rayo Vallecano clawed their way back into the game, equalising through Raul de Tomas' penalty after VAR spotted Eduardo Camavinga's handball. More Real Madrid news and stories can be found here La Liga news and stories Real struggled to create many opportunities thereafter, ultimately settling for a solitary point. This draw allowed the 35-time La Liga champions to widen their lead over second-placed Girona to six points. Following this result, Athletic Bilbao brought high-flying Girona back down to earth with a 3-2 victory on Monday. This has further boosted Real Madrid's chances.  Real Madrid now sit eight points clear of their long-standing rivals Barcelona, who clinched a late victory against Celta Vigo

Spain: Real Madrid carry on impressive form

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 Real Madrid 5 - 0 Deportivo Alavés Jude Bellingham scored his 19th La Liga goal as champions Real Madrid thrashed Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu. You can watch the highlights of the match in the video below. The footage is from the official Real Madrid YouTube account. The England international Bellingham opened the scoring in Madrid's first game since securing the title when he guided Toni Kroos' 10th-minute cross over Jesus Owono. Bellingham's goal left him one goal behind Girona striker Artem Dovbyk in the race for the golden boot with two league matches remaining. Vinicius Jr doubled Real's lead in the 27th minute with a close-range finish after a fine pass from Eduardo Camavinga . Federico Valverde made it 3-0 just before half-time with a beautiful strike into the top corner, while Vinicius scored his second goal with a lovely effort.  Turkish teenager Arda Guler scored the final goal in the 81st minute with a calm finish into the bottom corner. Real Madrid a

Spain: Barcelona survive Copa del Rey scare

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Linares Deportivo 1 - 2 Barcelona: Copa Del Rey Barcelona survived a scare against lower league Linares as Dani Alves eventually marked his first Barca appearance in more than five years with a win.  Alves made his long-awaited second debut, having had to wait for the registration window to open following his signing a few months ago. La Liga news: Barcelona re-sign Dani Alves  The Spanish minnows took a shock half-time lead through a goal Hugo Diaz. It wasn't the best performance from Barcelona but goals from Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Jutgla spared them the shock and embarrassment of an exit in the early stages of the competition.  They started with a second-string line-up against a side 14th in the Primera Division Group 2, but boss Xavi had to make changes at the break. He brought on Dembele, Gerard Pique and Frenkie de Jong, to help turn the tie around. Reaction  This is how Xavi responded to the win. 🎙 Xavi's first reaction to the win #LinaresBarça pic.twitter

Icons: Luis Figo

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Luis Figo is our latest icon to feature on European Super Football. Figo's journey to becoming a global superstar was remarkable.  With his immense skill, versatility, and unmatched determination, Figo etched his name in football history and left an indelible mark on the sport. In this article, we will delve into the career of this legendary footballer, also exploring one of the most controversial transfers of all time. Shining at Sporting  Figo's passion for football was evident from a young age. He joined the youth team of Sporting Lisbon, one of the renowned Portuguese clubs. His exceptional performances in the youth setup quickly caught the attention of scouts, and at just 16 years old, he made his debut for the senior team. Luis Figo in his Sporting Lisbon days is one of the greatest finds ever. pic.twitter.com/RV3ComIvLE — Old Days Football (@OldDaysFootball) March 22, 2016 The Sporting Lisbon days helped Figo hone his skills and build a strong foundation. His t