Dembele being Balon d'Or will be the ultimate what the fuk is happening to this world moment. There is a joke out there to be made about Bartomeu, Dembele, and Neymar. As for Raphinha ... tough break for him. While he is a weird candidate to me, tough to argue against his numbers. Had a subdued SF, but us that know his game imagined he would struggle with Inter denying the space he thrives in. Yet still he delivered 2 goals and one assist (well, one was an own goal but still a fantastic shot) .. and one of those goals was supposed to be the winner to send us to the CL Final. Lamine is the better player in terms of skills though ... mainly because we place a lot of value on players who handle the ball so well.
If Inter win the final, the top 3 should be Lamine, Raphina and Lautaro but off course Lautaro will probably gets overlooked again. Messi won Ballon in 2019 despite losing in CDR final and CL semifinal. Although Messi had 70 goals contribution which makes it hard to argue. I dont see any PSG player remotely close to Yamal in terms of individual performance. Yamal at 17 already playing like prime Neymar. I think Raphina would have won it if we didnt choke in semi. Its crazy everything turned upside down within just few minutes. But domestic double or treble should still puts him in contention, as long we dont choke in La liga.
Antony is 2 matches away from becoming first player ever to win two European medals in the same season. he played 4 games with Man.U in the Europa league and 8 with R.Betis in the Conference league.
It seems like Valencia were just fighting for survival, now they are only 1 point from a European place.
Crazy stuff. Beyond Barça v LPB fighting for the title, there are: -Villarreal & Betis fighting for 5th -Rayo, Vigo, Valencia, Osasuna, Mallorca, and La Real all within 4 points for 7th -Alavez, Las Palmas, and Leganes within 4 points to escape relegation. Only 6 teams are >4 points away from relegation, or from losing/gaining their spot in Europe: Atleti, Espanyol, Getafe, Girona, Sevilla, and Valladolid. Its going down to the wire in La Liga, and I'm all for it. Except for the whining, crying, b!tches LPB having a shot at anything.
Also, we know about Lewandowski vs Mbappe/his pile of free PK goals for the Pichichi. Does anyone have the Zamora trophy standings? I've looked, but I'm coming up empty.
Asspanyol are currently 7 points clear of relegation and they haven't played yet. They play Leganes next. So good chance they will be safe when we play them.
I get what you're getting at, but I don't think it matters in this case. Either way Asspainlol are not going to be stressed about being relegated. Just a matter of time before they are mathematically safe. But they will be motivated to f*ck up Barca's season (again). Also, Athletic Club are still fighting for top 5. It would be very bad for Barca if they still need a win in Bilbao to clinch La Liga and Athletic need a result to secure top 5. Stating the obvious here, but it's quite crucial that Barca at least get a draw tomorrow.
Yeah, Athletic are 4 points clear of Betis, who have been on fire in 2025. I also heard that Nico Williams is out for the season, so perhaps good news for their opponents, if true. Tomorrow's match is the season at this point. I'd really like a win, a goal or three for Lewandowski, and a clean sheet. But, with Kounde out, and Balde/Lewandowski questionable, it'll be tough. OTOH, LPB have their injuries as well, so this could be a high-scoring game.
City fail to win (and score a single goal) against last place Southampton who have only managed 12 points the whole season and conceded 82 goals.
Your are right. we still got a tournament in the summer, and based on the last 3 summer tournaments the Balloon d'Or winner only deepens on this.
Congrats to HAMBURG SV on gaining promotion back to the Bundesliga! Köln just need to draw at home next week against Kaiserslautern to also return to the German top flight.
Leganes smoking Asspainlol 3-0 early 2nd half. The Espanyol keeper should have been sent off too (and suspended for Barca) for DOGSO.
The La Liga survival / relegation race would have gotten super interesting if Las Palmas could have beaten Sevilla today, or even drawn but didn't happen. As such, its pretty much just between Alaves and Leganes. Each still have a game remaining against Valladollid. In fact, Leganes have games against the bottom 2 teams in La Liga.
The Dutch Eredivisie title race is going right down to the wire. If Ajax don't win, it would surely have to go down as one of the biggest chokes. They had a 9-point lead with 5 matches to go but have dropped 8 points in their last 3 matches (two of which were against teams in the bottom half of the table) and outscored 8-1. So, their lead is down to a single point with 2 rounds to play.
I'm not quite there-yet. When the gap in points is > or = the number of fixtures remaining, i still see it as all to play for. Alaves are only 1 point above the drop, but even Las Palmas can be equal on points with a win. Leganes grabbed a vital 3 points in their last match, but if any of Alaves/Leganes/Las Palmas drop points and the other two win, any of those three can escape. For me, I'd like either of Las Palmas or Alaves to escape. Nothing against Leganes, but there are enough teams in the top flight from the madrid community.
Speaking of La Liga, I think the shock for me are La Real, and their mediocre showing this season, because they cant score. They're 4 points adrift of the last European spot, and would need a minor miracle to get into even the conference for next season. The surprise packages have to be Villarreal and Betis, who are battling it out for the last UCL spot. Barça have to play Villarreal still, so it behooves them to win @ asspanyol, so that La Liga doesn't depend on them getting a result @ Athletic or vs Villarreal.
The problem for Las Palmas is that both Alaves and Leganes have a match against Valladolid coming up. Another problem is that Alaves has the tiebreaker over Las Palmas. Valladolid have collected just 1 point in the entire second half of the season.
Don't disagree with that. Heck, Alavez have both a point(s) lead over the other two, but also a GD lead as well. But, as all three are among the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked, can you truly trust one over the other?
It just got more embarrassing for Jorden Henderson and Co. Ajax were clinging to a 2-1 lead to FC Groningen. It looked pretty safe when Groningen got reduced to 10 men in the 93rd minute. But nope! They drew level right at the end - 99th minute! PSV leap front Ajax in the table with one match to go. A fight followed the FCG - Ajax match too. The Eredivisie has consistently produced the most dramatic title races over the years.