Athletic

AS editor Alfred Relaño reflects on Sevilla's warm, yet simple homage to club legend Pablo Blanco, and urges that other clubs should do the same.

We are already eight matchdays into LaLiga, a total of 79 games, and it seems like a good time to reflect on the impact of VAR's introduction.

Alfredo Relaño looks back on Real Madrid's latest defeat, to Alavés, another blow for Julen Lopetegui's team who have not scored in four matches.

AS Editor Alfredo Relaño analyses a hard-fought Madrid derby, and the effect Leo Messi had on the Barcelona - Athletic match, after starting on the bench.

It was a happy night at the Bernabéu, crowned with a resounding 3-0 result, where Mariano scored the final goal that was the icing on the cake.

Madrid has two fiestas, San Isidro and the Paloma. In the 1950s and 1960s there was another, the final of the Copa del Rey: always played here, and almost always with Athletic.

The final whistle blew and the players hugged each other, satisfied with their night's work and safe in the knowledge they had done all that could be asked of them...