Xavi Hernandez said on Tuesday he felt “liberated” after announcing that he would step down as Barcelona coach at the end of the season. The former Barca midfielder said he would following a damaging 5-3 defeat by Villarreal last weekend which left his team well off the pace in their La Liga title defence. “It happened to all the coaches: …
Real Madrid blew a chance to ramp up the pressure on La Liga leader Barcelona in the title race as it fell 2-1 at Villarreal in a disjointed display on Saturday. Yeremy Pino and Gerard Moreno’s strikes either side of Karim Benzema’s penalty were enough to give the hosts a sixth consecutive victory across all competitions and dent the Spanish …
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes that winning the Europa League would be the start of "something more" for the club. United takes on Spanish side Villarreal in Wednesday's final in Gdansk, looking to win its first trophy since a Europa League success under Jose Mourinho in 2017. Solskjaer is looking to lead United to glory 22 years to …
Villarreal held out for a 0-0 draw on a nerve-jangling night at Arsenal on Thursday to reach the Europa League final 2-1 on aggregate as visiting manager Unai Emery returned to haunt the London club that sacked him in 2019. “We are devastated, really disappointed,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who was dealt a blow in the warm-up when Swiss …
Two-time defending champion Barcelona ended their two-match winless streak with Lionel Messi setting up goals by Luis Suarez in the 20th and Antoine Griezmann in the 45th. “These points were important to keep us in the fight for the title,” Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué said. “We will keep pushing even though we know it's going to be complicated.” Suárez's strike …