Premier League champions Manchester City have been drawn to face Paris St-Germain, RB Leipzig and Club Bruges in the Champions League group stage.
Man City beat PSG 4-1 on aggregate to reach last season’s final, which they lost 1-0 to Chelsea at the Estadio do Dragao in Portugal. RB Leipzig and Club Brugge were also drawn in Group A.
Meanwhile, Barcelona will face Bayern Munich in Group E. It will be their first meeting since Bayern smashed Barca 8-2 in the semifinals in August 2020.
Real Madrid begin their quest for La Liga glory in 2021-22 with an away game against Alaves on August 15.
Carlo Ancelotti was brought in to replace Zinedine Zidane during the off-season and the Italian coach will be keen to hit the ground running in his second spell in charge.
Levante await Madrid in their second game of the season, with Real Betis, Celta Vigo and Valencia to follow.
The La Liga fixtures have been released and we have great deals on Real Madrid tickets to all the big games this upcoming season in Spain and in Europe.
Arsenal and Inter Milan have canceled their pre-season tour to the USA due to a number of positive COVID-19 cases at the club.
According to The Athletic a small number of the travelling party have tested positive for the virus, disrupting the club’s preparations for the new season.
Mikel Arteta’s side was due to fly out to America this week for the pre-season Florida Cup where they were scheduled to play two games during their stay in America, competing alongside Inter Milan, Everton and Millonarios.
Arsenal was scheduled to take on Inter on Sunday, July 25 and then meet the winner of Everton or Millonarios on July 28.
Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona will see their wage bill slashed for the coming season as clubs continue to struggle financially post-COVID.
Unlike in other leagues, in Spain, how much a team can pay in wages is determined by the league and not by the individual clubs. As a result, Barcelona’s salary cap for the coming seasons is projected to drop to an almost unimaginable €160 million (unless Laporta can raise around €200 million by selling players and cutting wages).
Real Madrid’s cap will be around €300 million for the coming season. For context, Manchester City’s wage bill last season was around €410 million.
Barcelona will get to host the first El Clasico clash against Real Madrid after the full fixture list for the 2021-22 LaLiga season was revealed.
The opening fixture in the rivalry will take place at Camp Nou on October 24, 10 games into the new campaign, with the returning meeting to be held at the Santiago Bernabeu on March 20 next year.
It remains to be seen whether Barca, who will start their season at home to Real Sociedad on the weekend of August 14-15, will still be able to call on Lionel Messi, whose contract with the Catalan club runs out at the end of June.
Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos has announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of the month when his contract expires.
The veteran defender has spent over 16 years at Real Madrid winning 22 titles along the way.
During his farewell press conference, Ramos revealed he had actually tried to accept a one-year contract with reduced terms, but he says the deal was taken off the table and he was told it was ‘too late’.
Ramos sent an emotional good bye message to Real Madrid fans via Twitter saying:
Zinedine Zidane says he resigned as Real Madrid manager because he felt the club “no longer had faith” in him.
The Frenchman left the La Liga club for a second time in his coaching career on 27 May after they failed to win a trophy during the 2020-21 season.
Zidane previously managed Real from 2016-2018 before returning 10 months later in March 2019.
“I’m going, but I’m not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching,” said the 48-year-old.
While the six English clubs quickly caved on the idea of a breakaway European Super League after public opposition, three of Europe’s biggest clubs that are sticking to the original idea of a Super League.
Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona are refusing to back down and the three clubs have released a joint statement slamming ‘unacceptable pressures, threats and offenses’ to abandon the Super League project.
According the the New York Times, the three are not only threatening legal action against UEFA, but also the nine sides that backed out – AC Milan, Inter, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid.
The International Champions Cup will be returning to the U.S. this summer after a one year hiatus as Olympique Lyonnais and FC Barcelona, two of the biggest names in European women’s soccer, will join the Portland Thorns and Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League, in a tournament this summer in Portland, Ore.
All four teams are titleholders. Olympique Lyonnais is competing for its 15th-straight French first division title and sixth-consecutive UEFA Women’s Champions League Trophy. As for Barcelona, it was a Champions League Finalist in 2019.
The European Super League has been officially suspended after all six English clubs formally withdrew from the ill-fated venture.
On another dramatic night when Chelsea fans staged a mass protest outside Stamford Bridge before their Premier League clash with Brighton, Manchester City and Chelsea began the process of killing off the rebel league less than 48 hours after its launch by pulling out late in the afternoon, putting huge pressure on the other 10 founder members to follow suit, as they held crisis talks over their exit strategies.