Tag: Real Madrid

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...
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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 ...
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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...
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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 ...
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2026 World Cup Predictions: An early ranking of the top 5 projected Golden Boot winners
6Sep By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Analysis

2026 World Cup Predictions: An early ranking of the top 5 projected Golden Boot winners

Since the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches are ongoing and it is now less than a full calendar year before the World Cup in North America begins, it's more than fair game to start an early preview of what we can expect at next year's World Cup tournament. There are few players who make more headlines on the international stage than the superstars scoring the goals, so from regulars at the top of the scoring charts to new stars around world football, let's take a look at an early projection of the top five Golden Boot candidates at the next World Cup. 5. Brazil RW Estevao Willian Estevao Willian has been scoring wondergoals for years, even though he's still just 18 years of age, and the new Chelsea arrival has been arguably even better than advertised - and Chelsea fans were already h...
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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 ...
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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...
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La Liga 2025/26 Storylines: Title Race, Real Oviedo’s Return, and Relegation Drama
13Aug By Javier MartinezNo Comments
Analysis

La Liga 2025/26 Storylines: Title Race, Real Oviedo’s Return, and Relegation Drama

As the 2025/26 La Liga season is set to begin, Spanish football promises a captivating blend of high-stakes rivalries, historic comebacks, and intense battles across the table. From the race for the title to the fight for survival, here are five key storylines, packed with context and insights, to watch this season. La Liga 2025/26 Title Race: Can Barcelona Defend Their Crown Against Real Madrid and Atlético? The race for the La Liga title promises to be an exciting competition, with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid as the leading contenders, and Atlético Madrid posing as a potential dark horse. Barcelona, managed by Hansi Flick, secured the title last season and boasts a dynamic attacking lineup led by rising star Lamine Yamal. The recent addition of Marcus Rashford on loan from Manches...
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Ranking the 10 best defensive transfers of the summer 2025 window
13Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Transfer News

Ranking the 10 best defensive transfers of the summer 2025 window

Attacking players make all the headlines in world football, and the transfer market is no exception. The most expensive and desirable players - the players seen as being the ones who can change the destiny of a club- are the forwards, especially the goal-scorers. But history has proven that the right defensive-minded transfers can be just as influential to a team building a dynasty, whether that's an expensive acquisition like Virgil van Dijk's move from Southampton to Liverpool or a more under-the-radar buy like Inigo Martinez helping Barcelona return to prominence in European football last season. With the summer 2025 transfer window reaching its final weeks, let's rank the top 10 defensive transfer signings of the mercato thus far. It's no surprise to see the Premier League domina...
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Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26
9Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Analysis

Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26

PSG took everyone by surprise and conquered the 2024/25 Champions League, and although their triumph of world football's premier club competition was marked by a transition to a more team-oriented setup after the departure of Kylian Mbappe, the Parisians still had one of the Ballon d'Or favorites from the campaign in the resurrected form of a more mature Ousmane Dembele. Every high-achieving club needs at least one superstar to lead the way, and in 2025/26, there's a wide open slate of contenders of the Champions League crown, whether it's the defending champions PSG or the competition's record-holding champions Real Madrid. So in that spirit, let's take a preview of what could unfold in the 2025/26 and name every Champions League title contender's best shot at capturing the Ballon d...
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