There's a New Sheriff in Town - The 2021-22 Other Teams thread

Barca & also Sevilla both kicked out of the Copa del Reina for fielding an ineligible player. In Barca's case they signed a player, Geyse, who at her prior club was not eligible for Copa del Reina (due to red card (2nd yellow) in her last match in last year's Copa del Reina quarterfinals loss to Huelva), yet we played her in this season's first match. Now Barca's 9-0 win vs. Osasuna is officially a 1-0 win by Osasuna (same for Sevilla who won 1-0 over Villarreal). There's 10 days to appeal and Barca claim that they will do so. Famously this happened on the men's side years ago and Madrid was barred from the tournament, so Barca probably loses the appeal:

🚨🚨 BREAKING NEWS | Barça Femení are ELIMINATED from La Copa De La Reina after fielding the ineligible player Geyse Ferreira due to for picking up a suspension when she was with Madrid CFF. pic.twitter.com/xQJ5m4ntPt

— Barça Femení (@BarcaFem) January 24, 2023

 

Ferencvaros: the only Hungarian team still playing in Europe this season. But still another 7 or 8 domestic league matches for them to play before their next Europa League match.

 

Without the point deduction there would be six teams within 3 points fighting for second place

Nevertheless, there are still 5. Three will qualify for CL, one might have to settle for thr Conference League (depending who wins Coppa Italia)

 

I don't mean to suggest that any team, or any league anywhere for that matter, is free of the stain of racism. Even our own fans have been guilty at times.

But why does it seem so bad with the fans of Atletico, compared to the rest of La Liga?

You see a news story about La Liga fans engaged in racist chanting or performing a racist demo or throwing bananas or whatever, and it seems like those guilty are Atletico fans as often as they are fans of all the rest of the teams in the league combined.

Why?

 

They're not a bigger club than either Barcelona or Real Madrid; and I've seen more incidents -- or more reporting of incidents -- involving Atletico fans than I have seen involving Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villareal, Sevilla, Betis, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, etc. etc. all combined.

Maybe Atletico are just victims of the worst PR in history. Or maybe they have a real problem.

I remember when Atletico's fans singled out Marcelo's five-year-old son for racist abuse and threats, and at the time I couldn't believe it. Now it just seems like a drop in the bucket.

 

Pretty cool record, wonder if it has been done by any men's teams. Also it might put them at a disadvantage in CL, like PSG's mens team, not enough great competition to hone their skills for when Barca's women meet a club like Lyon.

THE FIRST TEAM IN HISTORY TO WIN 50 LEAGUE GAMES IN A ROW. @FCBFEMENI pic.twitter.com/J7YIk9PN91

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 26, 2023

 

Crazy match in the Amsterdam ArenA going on now. Ajax outshooting tiny Volendam 21-1 but trailing 1-0 after 60 minutes!

Edit: Ajax finally equalize in the 80th minute

 

good question worth exploring. i think there might be some clues in Spanish history.

i mean, we are talking about the club that likes to call themselves 'Los Indios' - the Indians - which is what the Spanish Empire liked to call the millions of dark skinned Peoples that they robbed, raped, and murdered for centuries in order to build the economic and cultural foundation that the nation still stands on today.


and their club mascot is 'Indy' the racoon:


They also seem to like to frame their rivalry with Real Madrid as the Vikings vs the Indians - basically, the Whites vs the Reds.



there's no consensus on where the nicknames started. historically, Real represented the wealthy aristocrats while Athleti represented the working class laborers. my guess is that over the years Athleti fans saw 'Royal' Madrid as representing the Empire, and felt like they could identify with the enemy of their enemy.

Actually, instead of 'identifying with them' it might be more accurate to say that they identified them as something they could use. after all they chose the name Los Indios, instead of ie. Los Comanchees or Los Aztecas. because, at the end of the day, it was not about joining or supporting Indigenous resistance movements. It was only ever really about giving the finger to their local rivals. and if brown or black bodies can be used to get at their rivals, they're ok with that.

 

Volendam hangs on for the draw. Chorus of whistles and boos rain down.

Final shot count: 31-2.

800 completed passes to 88

 

Well Atletico managed to hang on for a draw too, till I tried to get a stream up to watch extra time, only to see Savic get a 2nd yellow card in 2 minutes, followed by Benzema scoring 5 minutes later.

So it looks like Osasuna (behind a nice Abde strike - still our player out on loan), Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Real Madrid (if they can hang on for 15 minutes against 10 man Atleti). Final draw on Friday I believe.

 

Nothing changes

Atlético Madrid fans were disappointed with Memphis' performance and were insulting him on social media, calling him 'fat', 'slow' and 'out of shape'.

 

What are the chances we can get Alvarez from City? After the WC he’s had you’d think he’ll get tired of playing second fiddle to Haaland real quick. We should have gone for him from the start honestly. Lewa is a very short-term stopgap.

 

Liverpool are finished! Worse than Brighton in every facet of the game!
(but Madrid fans getting prepared to claim again they got the toughest draw ever in CL)

 

What's happening to AC Milan?. They've tanked! 3 blowout losses in a row! Not too many injuries either.

 

yeah, unless Jose successfully reversed jinxed them when he congratulated them for winning the Scudetto right before his team played them and when the season was only halfway done (I know 12 point lead is big, but you know Jose congratulated them with malice aforethought - aka trying to jinx them).

It is kind of sad Koulibaly won't be there on the team if they do win it, but they really played that situation well, kept him for 8 seasons when he was one of the best CBs in football, then cashed out for 38M Euros (30.25M more than they paid), and now he cannot nail down a spot on Chelsea's team at 31. Now granted they could have sold him for over 80M 3 or 4 years earlier, but they kept him, stayed competitive, and still got a good payout when they were ready to replace him.