Alfredo Relaño

The game at the Camp Nou left us with a slightly bland result: a 2-1 win for the home side, and the kind of outcome that would be disregarded if it didn’t leave certain open-ended issues.

Football has an immeasurable popularity, but less prestige in certain quarters of society than it deserves.

It was a phrase that John Toshak used and it served Zidane well as he kept faith with the side that succumbed to PSG in Seville and was rewarded with victory.

The gaping difference between Atlético and Madrid was that the former had unyielding belief while the latter did not, hence the respective outcomes on Wednesday night.

The Champions League group stage took flight on Tuesday night with good results for Barcelona and especially Valencia.

A Barcelona supporting friend of mine claimed on Saturday: "These performances from Ansu Fati won't be long in curing Messi's injury"...

Yesterday's game between Real Madrid and Levante at the Bernabéu left us with five goals, Hazard's home debut and plenty of talking points, writes Alfredo Relaño.

Alfredo Relaño takes a look at Leo Messi’s in-depth interview in Sport yesterday, in which the striker wondered if Barcelona had done everything possible to sign Neymar.

The traditionally quiet return from the international break was abruptly interrupted yesterday as news broke that Marcelino had suddenly been sacked as Valencia head coach...

A few days ago a football documentary called "Spain Before Tiki-Taka" was screened in Vitoria, before being premiered in Spain on Movistar...

They were five unforgettable hours; five hours in the night that we can consider the end of the summer

Last night's game between Spain and the Faroe Islands leaves Spain seven points clear in their group and was a fitting tribute to Quini, writes Alfredo Relaño.

A steady game, neither fast nor slow, a kind of ‘allegro ma non tropo’ in contrast to the moderately slow ‘andante’ of those happy years of Xavi, Iniesta and co.

For some years we have looked upon these phases of qualification as being too easy, but we must not lose perspective.

With the Neymar debacle, Paris-Saint Germain have brought a whole new meaning to the art of leaving things to the last minute, writes Alfredo Relaño.

The transfer curtain fell on the second day of September, and our suspicions were confirmed: 'operation Neymar' had been pure posturing.

We expected Zidane to revolutionise the team over the summer but after last night's draw at Villarreal, it's clear this is the same Real Madrid as last season, writes Alfredo Relaño.

Alfredo Relaño looks back over yesterday's Champions League draw in Monaco in which Virgil van Dijk beat Cristiano and Messi to the best player award.

Afternoons spent watching La Vuelta, watching and admiring largely unknown vistas and landscapes which are ignored but worthy of our attention...

Barcelona lined up with six players who came up through the ranks aganst Betis (iqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Carles Pérez and Rafinha) with Ansu Fati coming on as a sub.

Barcelona’s victory over Betis was an outpouring of joy

The weekend in LaLiga was all looking rather boring, until the final game, which was a fantastic exhibition of football.

After the way the summer panned out, Madrid lined up in their first home game of the season with James and Bale as starters, and without Pogba, naturally...

Can you imagine the mayors of Valencia and Málaga living in Singapore and Qatar and, from there, ignoring the requests of their deputy mayors and municipal governments...

We are heading into to the second matchday with squad lists still unconfirmed and this will continue into the third week with the transfer market not closing until 2 September.