Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.
Four out of five La Liga sides qualified for the Champions League Round of 16, and all of them will be in pot one for the draw on Monday. Somehow, Barcelona managed to turn that into a catastrophic midweek.
Things were relatively tranquil in Can Barca last Saturday, with the biggest story being Bayern Munich trying prise their best defender Ronald Araujo away from them. He looks to be staying, and it’s a good job, because even with him, they were thumped 4-2 by Girona on Sunday.
An historic night for Catalan team, it leaves them alone at the top of the table, seven points clear of Barcelona and two ahead of Real Madrid. Michel Sanchez’s side not only put four past the Blaugrana away from home, but thoroughly outplayed them, with the best football you can see in Spain this season.
Meanwhile it plunged Barcelona back into a state of minor emergency, due to the nature of the loss, which was made even more concerning by a dreadful midweek.
Real Sociedad had not qualified for the Champions League for a decade.
They had not qualified for the Champions League knockout stages in 20 years. pic.twitter.com/iVFsxsiwlX
— Football España (@footballespana_) December 14, 2023
Initially, Robert Lewandowski, Araujo and Ilkay Gundogan were initially left out of their squad to rest, with Barcelona all but through and top of their group for their dead rubber against Royal Antwerp. Then President Joan Laporta reportedly makes a call to Xavi, and they are back in the squad – except for Frenkie de Jong, who is left in Barcelona to recover from a fever.
Ahead of the game, Xavi tells the press it was a decision agreed between himself, Sporting Director Deco, and Laporta. Less than an hour before the game Deco tells the television in Spain that it was all Xavi’s decision. Relations between the two are not the best, with Xavi firmly under pressure, following four defeats in nine games, as Royal Antwerp beat them 3-2 in their worst performance of the season.
When they return, on Thursday morning, rumours of a bust-up between Deco and de Jong emerge. The Sporting Director allegedly doesn’t believe that de Jong had a fever, and angrily calls him, asking if he has a doctor’s note as they are boarding the plane. Later that day, club sources deny that they had an argument, and de Jong’s agent calls it ‘fake news’. The conclusion? Some within Barcelona are not happy with Deco, Xavi or de Jong.
Outside of Barcelona Real Sociedad topped their group with Inter, as did Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Sevilla not so much, they crashed out bottom, without a win, but they did squeeze in a Sergio Ramos Panenka penalty. At Real Madrid, the biggest debate currently is why Jude Bellingham was playing 90 minutes in their dead rubber with Union Berlin, despite only drawing with Real Betis last week, which tells you how much the Madrid press are enjoying Barcelona’s troubles.
Getafe are charging up the table, and are keen to sign Mason Greenwood on a permanent deal from Manchester United. Either way, they will make a profit on Greenwood, due to a sell-on clause in his contract. Speaking of a persona non grata, ex-RFEF President Luis Rubiales, who reached global fame for kissing Jenni Hermoso after Spain won the World Cup, has some interesting theories on why it made the news. It was not the fact that he kissed her without consent on live, global TV, but in fact a coalition between a revenge plan, and a political plot.
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