Spain's disappointing debut in the World Cup, with a dull draw against Cape Verde (0-0), has generated much more fuss around the national team than in the locker room. While analysts are pulling their hair out over the coach's strategy and the players' execution, the result has been met with surprising naturalness in the camp. Or so it seems after hearing De la Fuente, who said the strategy was correct but that the only thing missing, and in a "strange" way, was the winning goal.

Florentino Pérez is not wasting time since he was re-elected president of Real Madrid. In just one week, the leader has made his mark on the transfer market. Besides signing José Mourinho as the new coach, he has also secured the arrival of defenders Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries. But, above all, he has stuck his nose into Barça's plan to boycott him or, directly, take away the reinforcements he had in his sights. In just seven days, he has set out to increase the price of Julián Álvarez, has convinced Bernardo Silva with a hefty sum, and has finally managed to sign Marc Cucurella, a product of La Masia.

It had been two years since Lewis Hamilton last stood on the top step of the podium. The last time was at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, when he was still driving for Mercedes. Since the Englishman signed for Ferrari, there has been no way to be truly competitive. He even struggled to overtake his teammate. A bad streak that has been broken at Montmeló, in a Grand Prix marked by nostalgia, uncertainty, and plot twists. A race that marks a turning point in the World Championship, which is tightening up again. "You helped me achieve this. I don't have enough words to thank you. It wouldn't have been possible without you," said an emotional Hamilton, who achieved his 106th victory in Formula 1.

FIFA was eager for the ball to start rolling at the Azteca Stadium. It was the way for football to move past the multiple controversies that have surrounded the 2026 World Cup and that even threatened to derail it. The match between Mexico, one of the hosts, and South Africa, which ended with a local victory (2-0) with goals from Quiñones and Jiménez, kicked off a competition that for the first time will have 48 national teams, will last 39 days, with 104 matches scheduled, and will know its winner on Sunday, July 19.

After the express signing of Anthony Gordon in the early days of the summer transfer window, Barça made an initial offensive for Julián Álvarez. But while Newcastle gladly accepted the 70 million fixed plus 10 in variables offered by the Blaugranas, the mattress makers considered the initial offer of 100 million for the Argentine striker to be insufficient. The entry of Real Madrid into the scene and the public offer of 150 million for Julián are part of the football theatre, halfway between a gesture for show by the newly re-elected president Florentino Pérez and the meringue intention of increasing the transfer fee so that if the Spider ends up in Barcelona, it is at the highest possible price.are part of the football theatre, halfway between a gesture for show by the newly re-elected president Florentino Pérez and the meringue intention of increasing the transfer fee so that if the Spider ends up in Barcelona, it is at the highest possible price.

Barça has needed six years to face a summer transfer window without restrictions again. Not even 2022 is comparable, since then the club, despite strengthening itself with Kounde, Raphinha and Lewandowski, sweated profusely for the levers to adapt to La Liga's regulations. This time the tap is flowing and once Anthony Gordon's signing has been confirmed, the entity still presided over on an interim basis by Rafael Yuste is pulling strings to sign a world-class center forward and, if possible, to strengthen the defense with a reliable center-back.

Barça obtained in March the permission to use all of the first and second stands without them being completely finished. A walk through the bowels of the venue is enough to see that some finishes are provisional and that there are elements, such as the catering offer, that have been set up with mobile shelving while waiting to assemble the definitive structure. It's nothing serious. It's one thing for the Camp Nou to be operational and another for all the pending work to have been done. It happens at the Santiago Bernabéu, which can fill all its seats and there are still workers inside. And the same happens in many buildings, where tenants can live there even if there's still a curtain to hang, a piece of furniture to assemble, or a room to paint.

The images of Ewa Pajor celebrating the second goal, lifted by her teammates, with a fist in the air, will remain in the memory of Barça's women's team's fourth Champions League title. Or that of the players embracing after Salma, with two more goals, sealed the thrashing of Olympique de Lyon in the Oslo final (4-0). But the title would not be a reality without the performance of the player who was a hundred meters away, being the team's last bastion, keeping a clean sheet and holding the team together when it was going through its toughest moments.

The real estate bubble had catastrophic consequences for Spanish football. Many clubs depended on construction companies or businesses linked to the property sector that went bankrupt, leading to global non-payments to players and social security. In 2012, the Spanish government said enough was enough and threatened to intervene in the football business. To protect themselves, the clubs decided to create a mandatory regulation that not only required accounts to balance, but also demanded that entities demonstrate at the start of the season that they would have sufficiently good budgets to pay all debts for the season. At that moment, financial fair play was born.

The Barça-Betis match on Sunday was supposed to be a fantastic farewell party at Camp Nou. The team, already champions, were playing their last game at the stadium, where they were set to achieve their 19th victory, thus completing a perfect home season, a feat never before accomplished in the league tournament. Beyond the three points, which would eventually come with a 3-1 win, several players were receiving awards accrediting them as members of the competition's ideal eleven. And the main event was Robert Lewandowski's farewell, who was saying goodbye with full honors after four years wearing the blaugrana. Nothing suggested that anything could go wrong, until yesterday morning Fermín López went through the blaugrana medical center.

It was an open secret that yesterday at noon it was confirmed. Robert Lewandowski announced with a message on Instagram that he is leaving Barça after four years. The Polish forward will say goodbye to the fans in tonight's match at Camp Nou against Betis (9:15 PM, Movistar LaLiga), the last one the Blaugranas play at home this season.

After the confirmation of a blank season, with the defeat in the classic against Barça at the Camp Nou, the players, the coach, and the president of Real Madrid had to answer to the fans. And the Bernabéu delivered its verdict. Well, partially, because Madrid's stadium had the lowest attendance of the season in the inconsequential duel against an Oviedo that is already relegated to the Second Division. It didn't help that it was San Isidro's festivities and the poor results of Álvaro Arbeloa's team. But the spectators responded with whistles, especially towards Kylian Mbappé, and also with banners directed at Florentino Pérez, who lately doesn't have a moment's peace.

Florentino Pérez's press conference on Tuesday was surprising, chaotic and, at times, grotesque. But the fact that the Real Madrid president, visibly nervous, had a sometimes disorganized speech and made off-topic, derogatory or sexist comments, does not mean he did not have some things clear. It was a campaign event, in which he launched the electoral machinery without prior planning and took the opportunity to disqualify the one who, for some time now, he knows is the only rival who can overshadow him.

Barely 24 hours had passed since winning the League title when Barcelona took to the streets again to celebrate the championship. The first team players of Barça treated themselves to a massive crowd shower in a multitudinous parade, with 750,000 attendees according to City Council figures, which started and ended at Camp Nou and passed through some of the most central points of the Catalan capital. Celebration, chants, humor, pyrotechnics, and demands, such as Lewandowski waving an estelada or Lamine Yamal with the flag of Palestine. Two iconic images, especially the second, which quickly began to go around the world.

League champions on the field. And for the first time in history, in a classic against Real Madrid. The script dreamed of by the Barça fan has been fulfilled. It is the club's 29th League title, Hansi Flick's second in a row, just the day his father died. The coach decided to stay on the bench in a key match. An example for the locker room and further evidence of Joan Laporta's success in giving him command of the first team. The team had three matchdays to spare.

Alvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid's coach, stated in a press conference that he will not "burn his players in a public bonfire" and believes that neither Aurélien Tchouaméni nor Fede Valverde deserve the treatment they are receiving after the two fights between them that ended with the Uruguayan in the hospital and a fine of 500,000 euros each.

Taking advantage of a match against Manchester United, the Barça ticketing team became interested in the English club's business model at the Old Trafford stadium. At that time, Josep Maria Bartomeu was still in charge and the Camp Nou renovation project was being polished. The Blaugrana executives were surprised when they were explained the star product: it consisted of picking up the fan from the hotel, taking them by helicopter to the stadium, giving them a private tour, enjoying a luxury catering service at all times, and returning this spectator to the hotel, also by air, after the match. The price: 10,000 pounds. However, it only cost the club 2,000. The profit margin was extraordinary.

After the fight between Tchouaméni and Valverde that ended with the Uruguayan footballer in the hospital, some players approached Álvaro Arbeloa to recommend that he cancel Friday's training session at Valdebebas. But the Real Madrid coach, still surprised by what had just happened in the dressing room, decided to stick to the planned schedule.

The Real Madrid dressing room is on fire just days before visiting Barça's ground in a match where Hansi Flick's team can be crowned Liga champions. For the second consecutive day, Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni allegedly fought, to the point that their teammates had to separate them, and the Uruguayan ended up at the Valdebebas Hospital with a craniocerebral trauma that will keep him out of action for two weeks. It all allegedly started when Valverde refused to shake Tchouaméni's hand to make peace, as both had fought during Wednesday's training session, an incident that ended with punches and insults. But Valverde wanted nothing to do with the Frenchman, whom he accused of having explained the first fight to the press. The result was a very tense training session. Back in the dressing room, the two footballers allegedly exchanged more reproaches and fought again. As their teammates were separating them, the Uruguayan allegedly fell, hitting his head. Arbeloa allegedly accompanied him to the hospital, where he received a few stitches on his head.

Meeting the construction deadlines for the Camp Nou is no longer a matter of pride or a propaganda tool for Joan Laporta. Having convincingly won the elections, the president-elect does not need grand gestures towards the fanbase or populist measures to win their favor. The president's main concern is to ensure that the new stadium generates the promised revenue, and therefore, it is essential to finish it as soon as possible. However, all large-scale construction projects experience delays, and the blaugrana coliseum is no exception.