When European football anoraks look back at the 2015-16 campaign the temptation may well be to label it the season of the underdog. Leicester City’s odds-defying title win would be used as evidence,…
Tag: la liga
Football fans are often crying out for an icon to lead them towards glory, a rare talisman who can create dreams on the field of play by acting as a glowing beacon to…
The art of diplomacy, it is said, is to recognise the beliefs, opinions and feelings of other people and to balance them accordingly with those of their opponents – breeding it itself an…
AS 2015 approached its conclusion one team had dominated the European football landscape. The five trophies claimed by Barcelona set a standard that many will struggle to match. Just as impressive as…
This feature is part of The Masterminds More than anything else, a football manager thinks about winning. It’s the source of their happiness, their confidence and, ultimately, keeps them in employment. No manager…
While Italy’s famed Catenaccio system may have been invented elsewhere, nobody used it to such devastating effect quite like the legendary Helenio Herrera
As featured on Guardian Sport With one brief, shocking press conference, he was gone. Marcelo Bielsa announced to the media at the Stade Vélodrome following Olympique Marseille’s 1-0 loss to Caen that he had…
This feature is part of A Tale of One City GAZING OUT ACROSS THE MIRAGE of sparkling lights littering the night sky, it was impossible not to fall madly in love. There…
As colleagues and peers from the world of football stood up and applauded as he left the stage at an event organised specifically for his goodbye, one of Barcelona’s greatest leaders closed one chapter…
The story of Diego Tristán is an all-too-common tale, one that has beset numerous players across the eras of football. Aptly nicknamed ‘The Lizard’ for his slippery style of play, most notably when dribbling,…
The first thing that anybody fortunate enough to visit Barcelona’s Camp Nou will notice is the club’s proud slogan, Més que un club (More than a club). This mantra is a philosophy…
Until the turn of the millennium, Deportivo Alavés was little more than another club in the lower echelons of Spanish football, scrapping for their very survival season after season, holding off the…
“He is a great goalscorer but a poor footballer.” These were supposedly the words of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff when discussing the qualities of his compatriot Ruud van Nistelrooy. The quote is…
TO THE OUTSIDERS LOOKING IN, the sight of a teary 34-year-old, with his right forearm and two of his fingers hastily wrapped in a plaster cast must have appeared bemusing and bewildering. Indeed,…
Deep in the Barranco Seco, a light-hearted game of tag broke the morning sun. Pre-season in Gran Canaria’s capital was officially underway, while the promotion celebrations of June were finally put to an…
Building a squad to thrive in Europe’s top leagues can take years of careful planning and stability, but Rayo Vallecano’s finances dictate a completely different approach to the transfer market. Last season Los…
This feature is part of A Tale of One City Seville is an astonishingly beautiful city. Cloaked in distinctive, Moorish architecture and set against the dramatic backdrop of the river Guadalquivir, many would…
The opening weekend of the football season is one when hope, however temporary, triumphs over all else. In August 2007 this was the case for Sevilla, who were riding the crest of a…