Barcelona News and Analysis

2025/26 LaLiga picks, score predictions for every Matchday 7 fixture

25Sep

By Cody AcevedaNo Comments

Analysis

2025/26 LaLiga picks, score predictions for every Matchday 7 fixture

LaLiga had a full set of matches during the week, but the action doesn’t ever stop in Spain. The games pick right back up this weekend, with big matchups like Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid, Villarreal vs. Athletic Club, and Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad. Here are my LaLiga picks and score predictions for these matches and every other Matchday 7 fixture. Girona vs. Espanyol Estadi Municipal de Montilivi, 9:00pm CEST (3:00pm ET), Friday, September 26 Girona unexpectedly found themselves in the relegation fight last season. This year, they look on track to actually go down. The Catalan club have lost four of their six LaLiga matches so far — all of which were by two goals or more. However, they managed to scrape out a 1-1 draw with Athletic Club in Matchday 6. Espanyol finished just t...

Every La Liga club’s most overpaid player in the 2025/26 season

21Sep

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Every La Liga club’s most overpaid player in the 2025/26 season

La Liga may not have the same figures thrown around or as much money involved as the Premier League, but when you look across the landscape of the Spanish top flight, you'll still find plenty of contracts and wage figures. Using data provided by FBRef.com, let's take a look at the most overpaid player on every La Liga team for the 2025/26 season. Girona Why on earth Girona signed Axel Witsel remains a mystery. I get the idea of a club worried about relegation signing veteran players, but Witsel hasn't been a starting-caliber player in ages and was a disaster for Atletico Madrid. At 4.16 million euros per season, Witsel is Girona's highest-paid player and is 36 years old. He has no real, defined position in 2025/26, and while he was once a top defensive midfielder at the Champions L...

Every 2025/26 Champions League contender’s biggest X-Factor

20Sep

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Every 2025/26 Champions League contender’s biggest X-Factor

The Champions League is the time for all the brightest stars to come out and write their legacies in leading their clubs to victory, as the biggest legends of the modern game like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Toni Kroos, and so many others have taken the opportunity to etch their names in history with remarkable Champions League campaigns. But Champions Leagues are also just as much about the X-Factors who step up in key moments or have career years to defy expectations. This is where the Alvaro Moratas, the Francesco Acerbis, and the John Stoneses of the world make their mark. Who could be the biggest X-Factors in the 2025/26 Champions League campaign? Here are eight players to watch from the ...

2025/26 Ballon d’Or Power Rankings after Matchday 1 of the Champions League

20Sep

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

2025/26 Ballon d’Or Power Rankings after Matchday 1 of the Champions League

Even though we haven't learned who the official Ballon d'Or winner of the 2024/25 season is as Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Demebele fight for the award, all of the European leagues have played at least three games domestically and the first Matchday of the 2025/26 Champions League is already completed. So now is a good time to start the Ballon d'Or Power Rankings as an early barometer of the season to come for key individuals and breakout stars in European football this season. Since it's extremely difficult for defensive players to carry the team, go above and beyond, and capture the imagination of fans and the voters, this list is heavily skewed towards attacking players. You'll also find no players from Ligue 1 or the Premier League in this top 10. There's no bias in these leagues...

La Liga Power Rankings: Picking the top 6 after Matchday 4

15Sep

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

La Liga Power Rankings: Picking the top 6 after Matchday 4

With four matches in the bag, let's take a look at the updated La Liga Power Rankings after Real Madrid won their fourth in a row and Atletico Madrid outlasted Villarreal in a marquee matchup. Note that power rankings are weighed heavily on form, so this is a combination of predicted the best teams in the future and honoring the teams that have truly been the best through four games in the 2025/26 season so far. 6. Real Betis One of two teams with five matches played in the La Liga season, Real Betis are only 10th in the table despite this advantage, because they've only won one game this season, which was a 1-0 victory over Deportivo Alaves. So it's been a disappointing start to the campaign for a perennial European side, and the Conference League Finalists are going to need more ...

World Cup 2026: Ranking Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and the 5 best players older than 35

9Sep

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

World Cup 2026: Ranking Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and the 5 best players older than 35

The 2026 World Cup will take place next year in North America, and the qualifying rounds have given us plenty of nostalgic moments with the two biggest legends in the history of this game, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, still racking up the goals. Well past the age of 35, Cristiano and Messi remain two of the world's finest players on the international stage, even as they have long past waved goodbye to the highest level of European football. But there are a couple of other iconic players past the age of 35 who could be factors at the next World Cup but are still shining for powerhouse clubs in European football. How do they stack up with the two GOATs? As the nations decide who is in and out of the 2026 World Cup, let's take an early look and rank the top five players older ...

Champions League Power Rankings: The 10 best managers for the 2025/26 season

30Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Champions League Power Rankings: The 10 best managers for the 2025/26 season

The 2025/26 Champions League draw for the league phase is set, with the matches to begin next month in mid-September, and it's anyone's guess as to how this year's tournament will ultimately play out. Obviously, the players are the one who play the game, but the spotlight has become increasingly focused on the manager, and there's no one style that makes someone successful in the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti won two of the last four Champions League titles on chaos, Pep Guardiola won one on structure while embracing the virtues of a free-scoring No. 9 in Erling Haaland, and Luis Enrique finally brought the big one to Paris by embracing a more team-oriented playing style without Kylian Mbappe. It's not easy ranking managers at baseline, but ranking them from different leagues ...

Champions League Power Rankings: The top 12 strikers before the 2025/26 season

30Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Champions League Power Rankings: The top 12 strikers before the 2025/26 season

There isn't a single position on the football pitch that receives as much attention as the striker position, It is the marquee position, because there's a school of thought that every great team needs a great player who can finish off the goals. Although Real Madrid have won a Champions League title in recent years without a true No. 9 and Manchester City have won the Premier League without one, those are exceptions to the rule. Because Real Madrid have also dropped Champions League titles without a true top goal-scorer, while Manchester City only became Champions League winners after they added Erling Haaland, a record-breaking striker. Ahead of the 2025/26 Champions League season, which will officially begin next month with the league phase, let's do an intial power ranking of t...

Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26

23Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26

The 2025/26 Champions League season is still in its play-off stages for another week, but on Aug. 28, those matches will end and the league phase will be finalized, setting in motion the start of the second campaign in this new format. PSG finally conquered European football last season in their first one without superstar Kylian Mbappe - or Neymar for that matter - following a more team-oriented approach under Luis Enrique. They will no doubt be the favorites again this season, but as in any year, the field is wide open with so many great contenders around European football. Before the 2025/26 Champions League campaign truly gets underway in mid-September with the first league phase matches, let's start with some predictions. Some leagues are more clear-cut than others - looking ...

Ranking the 5 best teenagers in European football for the 2025/26 season

19Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Rankings

Ranking the 5 best teenagers in European football for the 2025/26 season

It's not easy to step right in and be a star in one of the top five leagues in European football before you've turned the age of 23, let alone before turning the age of 21...or 20, for that matter. Lamine Yamal's success at Barcelona may be leading some to unrealistic expectations of what young players can do, because the 18-year-old's success in his first two seasons as a full-time starter - and Barca's most crucial player on a team filled with stars - has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not even the two GOATs, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, were playing at this level before they even became legal adults. But for the most part, the wider world of football fans understand both how special Yamal is and how difficult it is for anyone to even start at the highest levels of Eur...