There may not be another manager in football quite like Quique Setién, who arrived late, rose slowly but now influences many up and coming coaches
Tag: la liga
As much as he’d like to deny it, Harry Redknapp’s reputation as a wheeler-dealer is well earned. Harry always had a predilection for desperately rifling through the bargain bin of the transfer…
STEPPING OFF THE PLATFORM at the Abando train station and into its main corridor, you are immediately reminded of where you are. As your footsteps take you through clouds of tobacco smoke…
IF YOU HAD TO BE STUCK IN A LIFT with one footballing personality, who would you want it to be? You could pass the time asking Andrés Iniesta what it’s like to…
MODERN FOOTBALL HAS become so sanitised in this day and age that it’s hard to recall if there was ever a time that top European football players were always so readily approachable. Teams…
For many millennials, Barcelona football club have been the benchmark of perfection in the world of the beautiful game. Tiki-taka, Lionel Messi and, of course, mercurial Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, have been just…
GOOGLE IAGO ASPAS and you will find yourself presented predominantly with the words ‘Liverpool’ and ‘flop’. Google Iago Aspas and press spacebar and you will be given the suggestion ‘Iago Aspas corner’.…
IT WAS 15 FEBRUARY 2004 and Arsenal were trailing 1-0 at Highbury to Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Adrian Mutu had put the visitor’s ahead in the first…
Clutching false papers and disguised as Russian soldiers while sheltering from the bitter winter on the back of a truck, a group of Hungarian men passed through the Alps in search of…
T he Estadio de la Cerámica was the venue, Villarreal versus Barcelona was the match, and as the pitch action ensued into the 90th minute, Lionel Messi was the target. He had…
THREE EVENTS OCCURRED in perfect synchronicity in order to facilitate Florentino Pérez’s second attempt at managing the global superpower that is Real Madrid. The first was on 10 March 2009 as Real Madrid…
IMAGINE YOURSELF AT 15. You, as many others, were probably worried about next week’s maths test or perhaps if that cute boy or girl at the front of the class was into…
After defeats against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa, Jorge Sampaoli prepared his Sevilla players for their first La Liga game of the season, against…
To put it lightly, Diego Godín and Destiny’s Child don’t have much in common. Yet the footballer and the pop group can both sing for the rest of their days about being…
IT’S 7 JANUARY 1995 – EL CLÁSICO DAY. The tension, as always, is incredibly high, but this match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, midway through the campaign, has the feel of a contest…
AS TEMPERS FLARED during a particularly feisty Madrid derby at the Bernabéu in December 2012, Atlético Madrid assistant manager Germán Burgos directed a threat towards José Mourinho that would unnerve even the most confrontational of…
“YES ISCO, I stopped the silliness.” This was Asier Illarramendi’s first return to Anoeta since he decided to switch the blue and white stripes of Real Sociedad for the famous white of…
BORN TO A World Cup-winning father in Mazinho, Thiago and Rafinha Alcántara have been surrounded by football and its culture for as long as they can remember, including growing up with cousin…