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.
The biggest game of the season so far in Spain is on its way this weekend, with Real Madrid traveling across the city to the Metropolitano to face rivals Atletico Madrid, the scene of their only defeats last season. They will do so without Kylian Mbappe.
Carlo Ancelotti brought up 300 games as Real Madrid manager on Tuesday, and with 10 minutes to go, all was going well. Yet Alaves were a post away from turning their 3-2 defeat into a late draw, Vinicius Junior and Endrick Felipe were fortunate to avoid a sending off, one for dissent, the other for kicking out, and Mbappe came off injured. Just things that come with managing Real Madrid.
It was the Frenchman’s best game at the Bernabeu, and he will now be out for three weeks. Meanwhile their strategy of not signing a central defender this summer has been criticised in Madrid, and already it is one of two areas they are targeting for next summer, along with central midfield. They have set their sights on Valencia’s latest starlet.
Earlier today we joined @cnnsport to discuss Carlo Ancelotti bringing up the big 300 at Real Madrid, and Barcelona's fine start to the season. pic.twitter.com/fqVWi3e3dz
— Football España (@footballespana_) September 24, 2024
Meanwhile Barcelona roll on, with a 5-1 away win at Villarreal and a 1-0 victory over Getafe by way of response to their first defeat against AS Monaco under Hansi Flick. That kept them perfect, but their week has been focused on the goalkeeper position, as Marc-Andre ter Stegen was ruled out for eight months with a torn knee tendon. Barcelona have agreed terms with former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny for him to come out of retirement by way of replacement, given they have access to free agents.
Real Sociedad have not enjoyed a good start to the season, and amid stories that Martin Zubimendi was having second thoughts over turning down Liverpool, Manchester City have been linked with Spain’s replacement for Rodri Hernandez to replace their injured star in January. However if the same rule applies to City as it did Liverpool, Zubimendi will not leave the Txuri-Urdin in January.
In this week’s grim news, Getafe midfielder Chrisantus Uche was one of the feel-good stories of the season after scoring on his debut after signing from the third tier of Spanish football. The 21-year-old spoke out about bad refereeing though this week, and commented that he had heard racial abuse in La Liga. That on its own is horrendous, without Getafe President Angel Torres claiming those comments should not be taken seriously as Uche allegedly doesn’t understand Spanish – not that it takes much to understand a two-word insult.
