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FC Barcelona
One week after being jeered by his own fans, Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up the other as Paris Saint-Germain won at a wasteful Nice 2-0 to maintain its six-point lead of the French league. Messi was booed by some PSG fans in last weekend's home defeat to Lyon, leading to increased speculation he could leave this summer. Argentina's World Cup-winning star clipped in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 26th minute. Then Messi's corner from the left was headed home by veteran defender Sergio Ramos in the 76th. Nice was unbeaten in 14 matches overall before this game and went close to equalizing in the first half, but PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept out efforts from Nicolas Pp and striker Terem Moffi. Veteran defender Dante's shot came off the underside of the crossbar and appeared to cross the line in the 51st. But referee Jrmie Pignard was not alerted by goal-line technology that it crossed, even though video replays showed a goal should likely have been ...
Barcelona entered the final "clasico" of the season with a chance of earning a fourth straight win against Real Madrid in the same season for the first time. But when it was all over, it had endured one of its worst ever home losses to its archrival. With another hat trick by Karim Benzema, Madrid overturned Barcelona's advantage in the Copa del Rey semifinals with a resounding 4-0 win at Camp Nou Stadium to reach the final for the first time in nearly a decade. Madrid hadn't beaten Barcelona by four goals at Camp Nou since a 5-1 win in 1963. Vincius Jnior also scored as Madrid advanced 4-1 on aggregate after having lost the first leg 1-0 at home. Benzema also had a hat trick in Madrid's 6-0 rout of Valladolid in the Spanish league on Sunday. "It's obvious that after Karim improved, the team improved as well," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "When he is at his best, everything is better for us. And (Luka) Modric and (Toni) Kroos also had great games. In these types of matches,
Barcelona and Manchester City drew 3-3 in a friendly to raise money and awareness for the fight against ALS. More than 91,000 fans were at the Camp Nou for the match, with the proceeds going to help raise funds for research against ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder. The honorary kickoff was taken by Juan Carlos Unzu, the former Barcelona goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach who has the disease and helped promote the friendly. We want to continue living and enjoying life, he said before the match. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay scored for the hosts. Man City got goals from Julin lvarez, Cole Palmer and Riyad Mahrez deep into stoppage time. Man City defender Luke Mbete had to be substituted late in the game after a clash of heads with Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen. Mbete had to be immobilized and carried out on a stretcher.
The expectations were high for Barcelona coming into the new season. The club's financial maneuvers allowed for some high-profile signings that significantly boosted the squad after a trophyless campaign without Lionel Messi. The new players performed well in the preseason and Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the club would meet the Spanish league's strict financial fair play regulations. Barcelona was back in its place, seen as a reference in world soccer again, Laporta boasted a few days before the league opener. But it didn't take long for the hype to turn into more disappointment, and the Catalan club enters the second week of the season reeling and looking for ways to rebound. Another setback in a tough visit to Real Sociedad on Sunday could leave the club in a deep hole early on. Laporta was not able to register all the new signings as he had expected ahead of the opener, and on the field the team struggled yet again, beginning its league campaign with a 0-0 home draw ..
Energized by a change of manager and another opportunistic finish by Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League with a game to spare. Another newly appointed coach sill has work to do, though, to get Barcelona into the last 16. United was led for the first time by Michael Carrick following the weekend firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, just like his predecessor, the interim manager was left to be thankful for a goal by the Champions League's record scorer. Ronaldo produced a sublime lobbed finish to put United ahead against Villarreal on Tuesday and a 90th-minute strike by Jadon Sancho his first goal since joining for $100 million in the offseason sealed a 2-0 win to secure progress as the winner of Group F. Ronaldo has scored in all five group games so far, and now has a record-extending 140 Champions League goals in his career. Another English team, defending champion Chelsea, also advanced on the back of a 4-0 win over ...