Argentina won against Austria and secured their ticket to the round of 16. Leo Messi surpassed Klose and has become the all-time top scorer in World Cup history with 18 goals. But all of this has been overshadowed by Julián Álvarez's surprising statements in the mixed zone.

Cruel night at the Palau Blaugrana. Barça was not enough with an unbelievable comeback to overcome Valencia Basket (80-88). After recovering an 18-point deficit, the Catalan team ran out of energy to finish the job. The faith of the culé squad went unrewarded on the night they deserved it most. Without a good game from Kevin Punter and Will Clyburn, the locals were left on the ropes (1-2).

There is a play that Leo Messi likes very much. While his team attacks down the left and the winger on duty reaches the byline, the center forward goes to the six-yard box to look for the finish. The defenders, normally, follow him. And while all this is happening, discreetly but totally intentionally, Leo Messi appears at the half-moon. The pass goes to him, of course. Like lightning, he loads his leg and finishes with power and precision. The shot, always with his left leg, has a bit of curl, enough to finally mislead and surprise everyone, from the defenders to the goalkeeper. It's a goal he's scored about two hundred times. Or more. But he keeps doing it. And he will continue to do it. A goal that had a double prize. It served him to open the scoring against Austria and become the top scorer in World Cup history. A decisive goal in Argentina's victory, which he would seal with a second goal in stoppage time to leave his team as first in group J, already qualified for the round of 32 (2-0).

The brothers Quique and Óscar Álvarez are the new coaches of Girona FC for the next season. The sporting direction, led by Quique Cárcel, trusts the reserve team's coaches for the return to Primera. A major challenge for two figures with experience in Javier Calleja's technical staff – one of the names that sounded for occupying the white-and-red bench – but who will begin their first adventure in professional football as head and assistant coach. They will be accompanied by Jordi Balcells, the physical trainer during Pablo Machín's tenure, who was also with them both in the reserve team.

Despair has reached the white house. After Florentino Pérez rescued Juan Carlos Sánchez to lead Real Madrid's basketball section, Sergio Rodríguez announced his resignation on social media. The former player, until now sports director, does not want to work with someone he does not get along with. "After deep reflection, this afternoon I have informed the president of my decision to put an end to my time at the head of the sports management of our basketball section. I have sincerely thanked him for the opportunity and the trust he has placed in me during this season," he said.Rodríguez, who has tried to modernize the section, has paid for a season without titles. Valencia Basket prevented him from lifting the Supercopa Endesa, Kosner Baskonia left him without the Copa del Rey, and Olympiacos prevented his success in the Euroleague. "I have enjoyed every moment with passion, with the vision of building a stronger, more sustainable, and professional section, in an increasingly challenging context," Rodríguez has acknowledged.Despite having a budget much higher than its domestic rivals, Sergio Scariolo's Madrid has not achieved the expected results, and the team was left without competing in the ACB League semifinals. "I leave with pride in the work done, with great learnings, and with the satisfaction of having found a profession that I am passionate about," summarizes Rodríguez, who has a very difficult relationship with Sánchez, which stems from his time as a player.Martynas Pocius and Paco Robles, Chacho's two main advisors, will also not continue at Madrid, which plans to strengthen its structure with Rudy Fernández. Florentino Pérez's shake-up arrives at a very delicate moment, as it will affect the planning for next season. The club travels to the past to try to regain lost prestige. The future of Sergio Scariolo, who has the president's confidence, will be one of the first strategic decisions.

It is incredible how a moment you have been waiting for years can be tarnished. Those of us from Sabadell wished for a promotion like the one experienced a few days ago. It had been more than 30 years since we achieved a promotion at home. The team and the city deserved a day like this, but everything ended up very dirty with mud when the goalkeeper Diego Fuoli, who has been one of the pillars of the team, decided to start a chant against Pedro Sánchez. A large part of the young people present in the square continued it. Then there was an uncomfortable silence... and even more people booed. The magic had been broken. What happened next can no longer be controlled.

Hansi Flick's renewal until 2028 has brought a downside related to his staff of work. His Barça has finished the season with two more titles in the bag, the Spanish Super Cup and the League, and also the feeling of having gained defensive solidity, as demonstrated by the fact that Joan Garcia has won the Zamora Trophy. But these great news have coexisted with the repeated complaints in the locker room about the accumulation of injuries, which some heavyweights of the team have associated with deficient physical preparation. As a result of this unease, the German coach asked those responsible at Barça for a change in this department. The request has become a reality: Julio Tous, hired two summers ago, will stop working with the first team. "Between Hansi and Julio, Jan [Laporta] has chosen Hansi. He had no other option," they explain in this newspaper from Sant Joan Despí.

Only Pelé had managed to score the first goal of a World Cup match at eighteen years old or younger. Until Lamine Yamal arrived. The Rocafonda genius was in charge of scoring the first goal in Spain's thrashing of Saudi Arabia in Atlanta (4-0), a match where Luis de la Fuente's team shook off the bad feelings from their weak debut against Cape Verde. If against the Africans Spain couldn't even score a single goal, against the Saudis they already had three in 25 minutes. Between Lamine Yamal and a brilliant Mikel Oyarzabal, Spain thrashed in a match that became increasingly disjointed as the minutes passed, as Luis De la Fuente's team had quickly finished the job. In fact, he substituted Lamine Yamal at halftime to protect him, because the future of the national team in the World Cup depends heavily on him.

An old bus from the 60s, the kind that takes children to school, was arriving at the Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton. Inside the vehicle, music was playing at full volume. Rhythms of soca, tumba or seú. The rhythms that are played on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The smallest selection in World Cup history debuted in the final phase, being thrashed 7-1 by Germany, but they haven't lost optimism. "Just being here is already a success. We will enjoy every minute," said player Leandro Bacuna before playing his second match against Ecuador. The players have once again used this bus, which they have painted blue, like the team's jersey. Inside, they have put palm leaves, and decorated it in tribute to the buses you can find on the island, rundown second-hand vehicles bought by the local government. It has brought them luck, as they have drawn against Ecuador in a match where they had some clear goal opportunities. The hero, however, has been the veteran 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who has become the goalkeeper with the most saves in a World Cup match, with 15 meritorious performances.

If there isn't a radical plot twist, Salma Paralluelo will stop being a Barça player in a few days. The Aragonese footballer has decided not to accept the renewal proposal she had on the table because she considers it insufficient. Between budgetary limitations and the fact that raising the offer would have caused an upheaval in the wage scale of the women's team, the sporting direction has decided to stand firm. Thus, Salma will go abroad to collect the million euros she demanded and that up to four clubs are willing to offer her. The Blaugrana team could only pay her 700,000.

Not every day is Sunday. Barça could not repeat Thursday's comeback and lost against Valencia Basket (102-75). The orange team, which managed to lead by 36 points, tied the final with a collective exhibition (1-1). Kevin Punter, who was disqualified, and Will Clyburn, two of the great references of the blaugrana squad, ended up frustrated by the defensive variations designed by Pedro Martínez. Between the two of them, they only managed to score 4 points.

When the Moroccan national team achieved a brilliant and deserved draw against Brazil in their World Cup debut, many people reacted with a grimace. For the first time, a team played in the final phase of a World Cup where none of the footballers had been born in their country. The initial squad had only one player born in Morocco, Ounahi. But with substitutions, 11 players born abroad coincided, two of whom were from Catalonia, Ismael Saibari and Ayoube Amaimouni. All with roots in Morocco, in this case. But born abroad, children of the Moroccan diaspora. Morocco opened an office in Spain years ago where a group of people work to identify players throughout Europe who are sons or grandsons of Moroccans, in order to recruit them, as they tried to do with Lamine Yamal without success.

Marc Márquez does not know the word impossible. Neither injuries nor crashes at the start of the championship have kept him away from the fight for the MotoGP title, as he confirmed this weekend in Czechia, where he benefited from Bezzecchi's penalty to enter the World Championship fully, placing himself just 40 points behind the Aprillia rider. The sensational triumph of the rider from Cervera has had a double reward.

The market hasn't officially kicked off yet, but we've already seen the first summer trend: footballers who one day dreamed of playing for Barça and the next day sign for Real Madrid. Yes, José Mourinho, the antichrist of the pointed finger and insatiable provocations, is capable of convincing children forged in the Barça academy or Portuguese players perfected under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola without any resistance. With his rhetoric and, above all, with a good bag of money from the wounded Florentino Pérez, he works magic with a single call. Between the persistent little song of Bernardo Silva or the return of Marc Cucurella, however, what will hurt Barça the most will be seeing the full-back from Alella dressed in white. It's easy to ask yourself: “How did we let this happen?” The answer is simple: neither now nor ever has he felt that Barça truly wanted him.

Raphael Dias Belloli, Raphinha, is injured again. In the midst of debate about his immediate future at Barça, the Culer attacker fell in the second match the Brazilian national team played in the World Cup. Same problem, same muscle. In the 40th minute of the duel against Haiti (3-0), he felt a twinge in his right thigh and had to ask to be substituted. There is a tear in the hamstring fibers and he will hardly play again in this championship, although the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) will keep him called up in case they can recover him for the playoffs. It is terrible news for the canarinha and also for a footballer exposed to the benefits of petrodollars.

Magical night at the Nova Creu Alta, which celebrated Sabadell's promotion. The 'arlequinats' defeated Zamora (4-0) in the second leg of the play-off final, overturning the initial goal deficit from the first leg. The goals from López-Pinto in the first half, Eneko at the limit of regular time, and Quadri and Xavi Moreno in added time, brought delirium to the stands of a city that returns to professional football after five seasons.

When, by chance, Monchi became the sporting director of Sevilla in his office there were no reports on footballers or drawers to store them; only a handful of tapes with recorded matches. It was May 2000 and the former goalkeeper from San Fernando, without structure, resources – the club was technically bankrupt – or experience, had to assemble a team to compete in the Second Division. In a notebook, he jotted down the phone numbers of some agents and scouted fields to see players he could sign for free. With one boot and one espadrille, that's how he began to build the success of a Sevilla that, after a while, lifted seven Europa Leagues and made a fortune in player capital gains.

The announcement of Pau Gasol's investment proposal in the women's football league, amounting to approximately 55 million euros, put everyone in the sector on alert. With the aim of "professionalizing the commercial model and accelerating internationalization," the former Barcelona player wants to carry out the largest private investment in this competition through the company Gasol16 Ventures and together with other investors. However, all of this will have to be approved by the league's clubs at an extraordinary assembly that will take place on Monday, June 29.

Great game at the Roig Arena. After recovering from a 14-point deficit, Barça beat Valencia Basket in overtime in one of the best games ever seen in the ACB League finals (112-113). The Catalan team, which achieved the record for three-pointers in a play-off (19), went from less to more on a night when veterans Will Clyburn and Nico Laprovittola became the Barça heroes.

One June night, fans of the Boston Red Sox, a popular North American baseball team, understood nothing. Their famous stadium, Fenway Park, was fuller than usual for a regular league game when the team wasn't performing well and was at the bottom of its division. But on this night, just a few days ago, thousands of fans began to sing Yes sir, I can Boogie, a song by the group Baccara, made up of two Spanish women who made a fortune with some hits in the late 70s. The Red Sox followers understood nothing, but they let themselves be carried away by the good atmosphere and many also began to sing the song, surrounded by 10,000 fans of the Scottish football team, many of them in the traditional kilt, the Scottish skirt. The United States has been invaded by the Tartan Army, the Scottish fans. An army that always seems to win because everyone lets themselves be invaded when it arrives.