The Nation Newspaper

Tag: La Liga

  • Alonso‘s Madrid chase perfect start in La Liga

    Alonso‘s Madrid chase perfect start in La Liga

    Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso doubled down on his decision to leave Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr out of his starting line-up, insisting every player must fight for their place despite the FIFA world player of the year’s heroics off the bench.

    The move paid off last Sunday as Vinicius came on as a substitute to help Real Madrid win 3-0 at Oviedo, providing an assist for Mbappe’s second goal before netting himself.

    Real Madrid sit joint-top of LaLiga with four other teams after winning both of their opening matches, setting up today’s clash with struggling Mallorca, who are 16th with one point from two games.

    Read Also: Familiar Foes: Real Madrid, Dortmund fight for CWC semis spot

    When asked about the impact of benching such a high-profile player, Alonso remained unfazed.

    “In the dressing room, the key thing is that everyone is willing to contribute, whether on the pitch or off it,” he told his  press conference . “Really believing in this is fundamental. And here, everyone does.”

    The Real Madrid boss heaped praise on the Brazilian’s response. “I’m very happy with Vini.

    Against Oviedo, he showed that he can have a big impact coming off the bench. We’re just getting started… and he’s going to be crucial.”

  • Thriller as La Liga EA Sports end with European spots to be decided

    Thriller as La Liga EA Sports end with European spots to be decided

    The 2024/25 LaLiga EA Sports season reaches its conclusion this weekend with Matchday 38, and there is still a lot at stake in this final round. Although FC Barcelona have already clinched the title, and the top six all know their European tickets are secured, the race to finish seventh and eighth continues, while there is one relegation spot still to be decided too.

    The weekend’s action begins on Friday night at the Estadio Benito Villamarín, where Real Betis and Valencia CF face off. Although Champions League football is no longer possible for Los Verdiblancos, they’ll still want to win this match to earn a confidence boost ahead of their upcoming Conference League final against Chelsea. The fans will surely give the players a terrific send-off, before they travel to Wrocław for that final.

    Most of the Matchday 38 fixtures are taking place on a very busy Saturday, starting with the 16:15 CEST meeting of Real Madrid and Real Sociedad at the Bernabéu. It’ll be a special match for both clubs, with the two head coaches, Carlo Ancelotti and Imanol Alguacil, overseeing their final games in the dugout before their upcoming summer departures.

    Them, at 18:30 CEST, it’s time to focus on the relegation battle, with two matches taking place simultaneously. CD Leganés currently occupy 18th position, the final relegation spot, but 17th-placed RCD Espanyol are only two points ahead in the table. Making this final day all the more fascinating is the fact that these two candidates for relegation both have home fixtures against already-relegated clubs, as CD Leganés will host Real Valladolid and RCD Espanyol will welcome UD Las Palmas to Catalonia. Both sets of home supporters will be nervously checking the result at the other stadium.

    After the relegation battle reaches its conclusion, there is another race to solve. At 21:00 CEST, the final two European qualification spots will be decided, when Getafe CF vs RC Celta, Rayo Vallecano vs RCD Mallorca and Deportivo Alavés vs CA Osasuna all take place at the same time. As things stand, RC Celta are seventh and in a Europa League spot, Rayo Vallecano are eighth and in a Conference League berth and CA Osasuna are out of Europe altogether, but the standings could shift multiple times over the course of Saturday night.

    Read Also: La Liga: Barcelona win seven-goal thriller against Celta Vigo, increase lead

    Sunday brings up the final three fixtures of the 2024/25 season, starting with Girona FC vs Atlético de Madrid. Barring a huge Girona FC victory, Jan Oblak would clinch the Zamora Trophy in this game and would make history, becoming the first player to win this goalkeeping award six times.

    Villarreal CF vs Sevilla FC is next up and, even though both clubs have already secured their objectives of Champions League football and of staying up, it should be a fun game at the Estadio de la Cerámica. In each of their past six meetings, both teams have gotten on the scoresheet, so goals are expected as Los Amarillos and Los Rojiblancos close out their seasons.

    Then, the final match of the LaLiga EA Sports season involves the newly crowned champions, as FC Barcelona pay a visit to San Mamés to take on Athletic Club. This is one of the most historic fixtures in Spanish football, and a fitting way to round off what has been a truly compelling campaign.

  • Six La Liga teams with most league titles

    Six La Liga teams with most league titles

    The Spanish football league resumes today with Real Valladolid facing Villareal in the opening match of the weekend.

    Spanish football giants Real Madrid and Barcelona will close the run of Saturday games in style at the Santiago Bernabeu by 8pm.

    The game will have a key impact on this season’s title race as Barcelona lead their rivals by three points going into the fixture.

    As we await the result of the game and the winner of the 2024/2025 laiga, here are six teams with the most laliga titles:

    1. Real Madrid – 36 league titles

    2. Barcelona – 27 league titles

    3. Atletico Madrid – 11 league titles

    4. Athletic Bilbao – 8 league titles

    Read Also: La Liga: Endrick’s debut goal thrills fans on StarTimes

    5. Valencia – 6 league titles

    6. Real Soceidad – 2 league titles

  • Bale sees red after brace as Real draw at Villarreal

    Gareth Bale twice came to Real Madrid’s rescue to salvage a 2-2 draw at Villarreal in La Liga on Sunday

    The Wales forward however ended the night in despair as he was sent off in added time for receiving two yellow cards.

    Real were severely weakened by six injuries to attacking players and fell behind in the 11th minute.

    This was after captain Sergio Ramos lost the ball in his own half and Villarreal broke quickly, with Gerard Moreno scoring on the rebound.

    Bale equalised in stoppage time of the first half by tapping in a cross from Dani Carvajal from close range.

    But Villarreal restored their lead in the 74th minute through Moi Gomez, after Karim Benzema had a goal ruled out for offside.

    Bale has a long and successful record playing at Villarreal.

    Read Also: BREAKING: Bale won’t leave Madrid on loan, says agent

    He scored there on his Real debut in 2013 after completing his 100 million-euro move from Tottenham Hotspur and netted in a 3-2 win in 2017 and a 2-2 draw in 2018.

    He again pulled Madrid out of trouble with a powerful low strike in the 88th minute but somehow contrived to get himself sent off by earning two yellow cards for fouls in stoppage time.

    Real have picked up five points from their opening three games, one more than champions Barcelona, but Zinedine Zidane’s sides are four points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who have won all three matches.

    Zidane criticised his side for their lacklustre start but was pleased with how they reacted to going behind.

    “We began the game without any intensity, we were barely in the game for the first 15 minutes, it’s always important to make a strong start,” he told a news conference.

    “But we reacted well and we deserved to score more goals.

    “We were up against a good opponent and we have to improve in defence because we know what we are capable of in attack.

    “But I’m focusing on the positive things we did today, above all our reaction, because it was very important that we didn’t lose today.”

     

    NAN

     

  • Spanish footballers arrested over La Liga match-fixing claims

    Spanish police have made several arrests following a complaint from La Liga about a game in May 2018 that was possibly fixed by “an organised criminal group”, the Spanish league has confirmed.

    According to local reports, current and former players, as well as club officials, from Spain’s top two divisions have been detained. Press Association Sport understands the match in question was a La Liga 2 game.

    A La Liga spokesman said in a statement: “Today’s police action follows a complaint filed by La Liga with the Spanish authorities about possible match-fixing in a May 2018 match.

    “We want to thank the national police for the extraordinary work done to dismantle what appears to be an organised criminal group dedicated to obtaining economic benefits through the predetermination of football matches.”

    La Liga said it had tipped off the police after its “integrity protection systems”, which involve detailed analysis of betting patterns, detected possible match-fixing.

    The league said that during the most recent season it had filed eight complaints with the general commissioner of the judicial police “for alleged acts related to match-fixing” below La Liga 2 and in international friendlies played in Spain. It had also flagged up 18 suspicious matches with the General Directorate of Gaming for the possible identification and sanction of players.

    (www.theguardian.com)

  • La Liga Eaglets thrill NFF

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is thrilled by the progress of some players discovered at the 2017 NPFL/ La Liga U-15 Tournament into the Golden Eaglets team that came fourth in the just concluded Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania.

    This was disclosed by Mallam Shehu Dikko, the 2nd Vice President of the NFF and Chairman of League Management Company, who added that the partnership between the LMC and La Liga is to create platforms that will develop Nigerian young players into playing for NPFL clubs, national teams like the U-17, U-20, U-23, the Super Eagles and possibly for clubs abroad. He stated that the Federation is satisfied with the trio of Akinkunmi Amoo, Olakunle Olusegun and Shedrack Tanko that featured for the Eaglets at the cadet AFCON.

    “We are happy that some of the players that featured at the first edition of NPFL/La Liga U-15 tournament are already making progress. Some of them are in the U-17 National Team and it shows that the players are developing and taking their game to the next level. We want to have more players’ progress to the next level of their careers,” Dikko told thenff.com.

    “We are also interested in seeing these players feature for some NPFL clubs as well. We want to see these players progress to play for U-17, U-20, U-23 and in the Super Eagles. If we are consistently doing this, the future of Nigeria football is very bright.

    “That is the plan all over the world. You can see players developing at the UEFA U-21 Champions League and Premier League U-21 and the LMC started with U-15, hoping that in the future, we will move to other age levels with our partnership with La Liga,” he said.

  • La Liga: Costa banned for 8 games for insulting referee

    Atletico Madrid Striker Diego Costa has been handed an eight-match La Liga ban by the Spanish Football Federation’s Competition Committee for abusing the referee after he was shown red card during last Sunday’s 2-0 defeat by Barcelona.

    The official report stated that the 30-year-old swore and shouted at referee Jesus Gil Manzano and also grabbed him “on numerous occasions” after he had been given his marching orders in the 28th minute.

    The ban, which ends Costa’s season as there are only seven games remaining, consists of four games for being found in breach of Article 94 of the league’s code of conduct for using insulting or offensive words towards a match official and another four matches for breaching Article 96, which refers to the use of light violence towards referees.

    Atletico were fined 2,800 euros (2,413.70 pounds), while Costa was fined 6,010 euros over the incident.

    They have 10 days within which they can lodge an appeal.

  • NPFL-LaLiga U-15 Tourney: 21 Teams Ready for Hostilities

    21 football teams will begin hostilities today as the third edition of the annual Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) and LaLiga Promises Tournament kick-off today.

    The U-15 tournament which is part of the NPFL and LaLiga’s drive to the develop grassroots football in Nigeria has been designed to encourage NPFL Clubs to set up and maintain youth structures.

    The preliminary stages of the competition will be played across Benin, Abuja, Kaduna and Enugu. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and the final will then be hosted at the Agege stadium in Lagos from the 22nd – 28th   April, 2019.

    READ ALSO: La Liga ready to help Nigeria beyond football

    Managing Director, LaLiga Nigeria, Javier del Río spoke about the tournament in Nigeria and said “We are once again thrilled to have the opportunity to develop young talents across Nigeria. We are committed to each of our projects across Africa and hosting this tournament in Nigeria aims to further show our commitment to the development of football in the country through our longstanding partnership with the NPFL”.

    Also speaking about the initiative, NFF 2nd Vice President and LMC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko said “ the U-15 promises tournament is very impactful as some of the young talents have already started blossoming into special footballers, three of the players from the 2017 edition are in the current National U17 team, some are in the U20s as well and some have gotten game time with their first team in the league this season.

    We are committed to developing football from the grassroots as we believe these kids will end up growing up to become representatives of Nigeria in major tournaments in the future.”

    The NPFL-LaLiga partnership was signed in 2016 and has since recorded a number of exchange projects between the two leagues, including a tour of Spain by an NPFL All-Star team, the opening of the LaLiga Nigeria office in Abuja.

  • La Liga live on DStv, GOtv

    Round 21 of the 2018/19 La Liga season will, again, offer Atletico Madrid the chance of putting pressure on leaders Barcelona, while Real Madrid will hope to bridge the gap between them and their table-topping rivals. The matches will be live on DStv and GOtv.

    Atletico play at home to sixth-placed Getafe on Saturday evening (4.15pm on SS7 & SelGo4), while Barca will be in action away to Girona on Sunday (4.15pm on SS7 & SelGo4). Diego Simeone’s side will, on the evidence of the 3-0 thumping of Huesca last week, fancy their chances of picking up all three points and move within two points of Barcelona, who will seek to restore their five-point advantage against Girona.

    Real Madrid will hope to see their two rivals slip up, as they bid to revive their title hopes. They moved to third on the table with a 2-0 win over Sevilla last weekend and will be favourites to build further momentum when they play away to Espanyol on Sunday night (8.45pm on SS7 & SelGo4).

    Elsewhere, Karl Toko Ekambi and Samuel Chukwueze’s Villarreal will seek to halt their slide toward the foot of the table when they head to the Mestalla to face Valencia on Saturday night (6.30pm on SS7A & SelGo4). Villarreal are winless in their last seven matches across all competitions and have slipped into the red zone of La Liga.

    Sevilla will look to reinforce their place in the top four when they face Levante on Saturday (on SS7 & SelGo4), while Athletic Bilbao will look to maintain their promising recent form with a win at home to Real Betis (Saturday, 8.45pm on SS7/SS10 & SelGo2/SelGo4). Also on Saturday, Leganes will take on Eibar (6.30pm on SS7 & SelGo4).

    Sunday will see clashes between Real Valladolid and Celta de Vigo (12pm on SS7/SS10 & SelGo2/SelGo4) as well as Real Sociedad and Huesca (6.30pm on SS6).

  • La Liga ready to help Nigeria beyond football

    La Liga has concluded to extend its support program in Nigeria beyond football.

    The Spanish League targets to provide supports beyond the round leather game through its world projects and initiatives for overall development of sports and youths.

    Countries across the globe including some African nations have benefited from La Liga in football support programs and other sports.

    La Liga team in Nigeria include; Managing Director LaLiga Nigeria; Javier Del Rio, Delegate; Guillermo Perez Castello and Media and Communications Coordinator; Ayodeji  Adegbenro made this known in Lagos at a media meet.

    The Spanish League has an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to expose star players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) to elite football on Spain and train Nigerian coaches.

    Barcelona Football Academy which has since ranked among top rated school kids academy in the country is being facilitated by the La Liga, and its recently launched Sport Business Program with Lagos Business School are few among hallmark of support program for football growth by the league in the country.

    But, “We are ready to do more come 2019, for Nigerians,” Javier Del Rio said while reeling out plans to expand scope and sport initiatives for 2019 with the media.

    “We are ready to work with sports grounded  Non-Government Organisation (NGO), youth centered society and state and federal government inclusive in the bid to give more for all round sport support in Nigeria beyond football.”

    “We are all supporting and considering female football. All these are still in the offing for next year,” he added.

    On the global scale La Liga has clubs are also heavily involved in this mission, running various strategic projects and signing international agreements, whilst also opening academies and sporting schools.

    LaLiga oversees training program-mes, value-enhancing initiatives and has signed numerous agreements with international organisations.

    These efforts are all part of the institution’s quest to ensure that the experience garnered throughout the history of the Spanish league serves to assist the growth of the game and its values across the globe.

    Ex-Nigerian international and La Liga Ambassador, Mutiu Adepoju was present at the forum which also saw the Spanish League introduced a Fantasy Football App to Nigerians.