La Liga
SUAREZ ENSURES ATLETICO TOP LA LIGA AT END OF 2020
Luis Suarez made sure that Atletico Madrid will end 2020 top of La Liga after scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Getafe on Wednesday (Dec 30).
Suarez struck in the 20th minute with a superb header from Yannick Carrasco’s cross to take Diego Simeone’s side three points ahead of Real Madrid, who are in action at lowly Elche later on Wednesday.
Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Villarreal are all a further six points back, with Barcelona 10 points behind Atletico in sixth after their 1-1 draw with Eibar on Tuesday.
Even if Madrid win in the late kick-off they will stay behind Atletico thanks to their significantly inferior goal difference, which currently separates teams locked on the same points.
Atletico will have also played two fewer matches than their local rivals come the end of the day’s fixtures after a win emblematic of Simeone’s reign on his 500th match as coach of the club.
Thomas Lemar almost opened the scoring in the 15th minute when he crashed a shot off the near post from a tight angle.
Suarez gave the hosts the lead with a beautifully placed header that was all the more impressive for the way Carrasco’s cross was flashed into a crowded area from midfield.
The Uruguayan’s eighth goal of the season was a good as it got for Atletico, who despite a fielding a full-strength line-up did not impress in a match of little incident at the Wanda Metropolitano.
They failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck against a Getafe team that have scored just 12 times in 15 matches and are 14th, two points above the relegation zone.
However Atletico’s third win in a row ensures they remain top of the pile after a fraught last few days in which Diego Costa was allowed to leave and Kieran Trippier was banned until the end of February for betting breaches.
Granada in Euro hunt
Earlier, Granada moved to within two points of the Champions League places after beating Valencia 2-1 in a fiesty match where three players were sent off in six second-half minutes.
Jorge Molina’s powerful header two minutes from time keeps Granada in seventh place on 24 points, two behind fourth-placed Sevilla.
Granada, who levelled through Kenedy on the stroke of half-time after Kevin Gameiro had opened for Valencia in the 36th minute, are also one point away from Barcelona.
Valencia’s seventh league defeat of the season leaves them level on 15 points with Real Valladolid, who are third-from-bottom in the relegation zone and earned a point at Cadiz on Tuesday.
Javi Gracia’s side haven’t won a La Liga match in their last seven attempts and had their task made harder when Jason and Goncalo Guedes were sent off within three minutes of each other midway through the second half.
Granada’s Domingos Duarte was then shown a straight red card three minutes later after he cynically hacked down Manu Vallejo as he attempted to burst through on goal with the scores still level.
Molina punished the beleaguered away side by thumping home Alberto Soro’s cross.
-AFP
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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